Sellafield Protest at British Embassy and Japanese Embassy

by Tim Hourigan - Green Party, Gluaiseacht, L4C Sat Apr 27, 2002 22:05 tim_hourigan at hotmail dot com

Japanese Embassy staff paid us the courtesy of coming out to watch our protest and accept our letters. (In stark contrast to British Embassy staff!)
We went out of our way to make it clear to the Japanese that we would not be happy of they renewed their MOX contracts with BNFL.
A large and clourful banner with slogans written in Japanese was unfurled in front of the Japanese embassy. One of the letters presented to Embassy officials was also written in Japanese.

The banner slogans translated as
"The nuclear industry is evil"
"Dangerous" "Dirty" "Insane" and "We hate it"
(That rhymes in Japanese - "Abunai" , "Kitanai" "Kichigai" and "Daikirai")

I didn't see the first letter that was presented, but the one in Japanese politely mentioned the opposition of Irish people to MOX, including the 1,200,000 SHUT SELLAFIELD postcards delivered this week, and the fact that the Irish sea is very radioactive because of Sellafield.
It also made reference to the terrible safety record and reputation of BNFL, the falsified safety data on the MOX shipment, the recent fire onboard a MOX ship and the fact that these ships would pass close to our homes and families en route to Japan.

It described MOX as a repuslive / repugnant poison with many problems.
It urged Japan to keep in mind accidents like the Tokaimura nuclear incident (fatal) and not to continue to use MOX fuel. It ended by asking if this is what Japanese people wish to be remembered for.

The embassy staff very graciously accepted the letter (the Japanese are SOOO polite)but I don't think they made any official comment.