Nobel Winner Oe Urges Japan to Decommission Nuclear Reactors
Japan should decide quickly to abandon its nuclear reactors, according to Nobel Prize laureate Kenzaburo Oe.
“If we are to take ethical responsibility for children of tomorrow, we need to decide now to abandon all reactors,” the 77-year old author said today at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
“Another severe nuclear accident could occur,” said Oe, who is among the nine founding members of the “Sayonara Nuclear Power Plants” campaign launched last June. “There is no proof it won’t happen again.”
The initiative aims to collect 10 million signatures to urge the government to phase out nuclear power generation and shift to clean energy and energy-saving measures. So far, 5 million signatures have been collected, said Satoshi Kamata, a freelance journalist and another founding member.
The move comes as Japan debates the future of its energy mix following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The disaster caused the meltdown of three reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant and led to release of radiation and the evacuation of about 160,000 people.
Japan has shut 51 of its 54 nuclear reactors for maintenance and safety checks. “Our life has not been disrupted without nuclear power,” Kamata said.
He and Oe are organizing a nationwide rally on Feb. 11 and plan to submit a petition to governors and mayors of prefectures and towns that host nuclear plants urging them not to approve the resumption of the suspended reactors.
Oe won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1994 and has authored “Hiroshima Notes” and “Changeling.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Langan at plangan@bloomberg.net
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