7 months ago
1506
The NFLAs have become a co-signatory to a petition calling on the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to abandon their plans to finance new nuclear plants.
The online petition was launched by 64 Non-Government Organisations from 25 countries and regions on 1 September/
The World Bank and the ADB are funded by governments worldwide to support economic development, poverty reduction, and enhance infrastructure. Until now, both institutions have refrained from financing nuclear power, citing nuclear proliferation, safety concerns, dealing with the intractable problem of radioactive waste, and high costs as reasons to deny funding.
However, on June 10, the World Bank’s Board of Directors decided to lift the ban on nuclear power financing. Meanwhile, the ADB is currently revising its energy policy with plans to include support for nuclear power as part of the review.
The very concerns that have caused both institutions to be cautious about financing nuclear power remain unresolved.
The petition highlights these ongoing issues and stresses that “supporting the construction of nuclear power plants in developing countries imposes serious long-term risks and enormous economic burdens on both present and future generations in those countries.”
NFLAs urge supportive NGOs and individuals to join us in signing this petition.
You are urged to go to the website: https://chng.it/G9MCKn6Gpv
Ends://..For more information please email NFLA Secretary Richard Outram at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
The petition reads:
“Say No to Nuclear Financing – World Bank and ADB, Why Turn Away from the Right Path?”
To: Mr. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group
To: Mr. Masato Kanda, President of the Asian Development Bank
We are deeply concerned that the World Bank Group and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are moving toward lifting the ban on financing and supporting nuclear power projects.
The core reasons why the World Bank and the ADB have long refrained from supporting nuclear energy include inseparable risks of nuclear weapons proliferation and the unresolved problems of radioactive waste. These concerns remain unchanged today. Furthermore, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed that nuclear power plants can become military targets, adding another serious security threat.
As demonstrated by the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disasters, one accident can cause widespread, long-term contamination and serious social and economic disruption.
Even without accidents or attacks, nuclear energy releases radioactive substances into the environment at every stage of its lifecycle—mining, fuel production and processing, operation, decommissioning, and the disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Uranium mining, in particular, has often violated the rights of Indigenous peoples and harmed their health, lands and environment.
Nuclear waste generated from operating nuclear power plants remains hazardous for tens of thousands of years, requiring secure isolation from the biosphere for geological periods of time. Yet most countries still have no disposal site.
Due to “security” considerations, some information related to the planning and construction of nuclear power plants is kept secret. As a result, communities and NGOs often have limited access to crucial safety information. This lack of transparency conflicts with the safeguard policies of international financial institutions which emphasize openness, accountability, and stakeholder consultation.
In recent years, the cost of building nuclear power plants has soared, often reaching tens of billions of USD per unit and increasing several-fold beyond initial estimates. Private investors have shifted away from nuclear power and toward renewable energy, leading to the rapid growth of renewable energy technologies. The high costs of nuclear power – now the most expensive form of new electricity generation – and its requirement for large direct and indirect government subsidies have high opportunity costs, delaying and undermining the needed rapid scale-up of benign renewable energy.
Construction of nuclear power reactors typically takes well over a decade, often more than two, too slow for mitigating the accelerating climate crisis.
We must also recognize the vulnerabilities of nuclear power. As a large, centralized source of electricity, nuclear plants can have far-reaching impacts when they unexpectedly shut down due to accidents or technical problems. In recent years, heatwaves have raised seawater and river temperatures, making it impossible to obtain cooling water in some cases.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) also fail to address many of these concerns, especially those related to fissile material, radioactive wastes, nuclear weapons proliferation risks and economic viability.
Supporting the construction of nuclear power plants in developing countries would impose not only serious long-term dangers but also a massive economic burden on current and future generations in those nations.
We therefore call on the World Bank Group and the ADB to refrain from providing any form of support or financing for nuclear power.
Initial Endorsers:
11 March movement, Belgium
350.org Japan, Japan
Aktionsbündnis STOP Westcastor Jülich, Germany
AKW-nee-Gruppe Aachen, Germany
Alliance for Climate & Ecology, Korea
Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Australia
AYUS International Buddhist Cooperation Network, Japan
Belgische Coalitie Stop Uraniumwapens (part of the International Coalition for a Ban on Uranium Weapons), Belgium
Beyond Nuclear, United States
Bündnis für „Sichere Verwahrung von Atom-Müll, Germany
Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), India
Citizen’s Eyes on Nuclear Regulation, Japan
Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCNE), Japan
Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, Japan
Climate Express 11 March movement, Belgium
Corner House, United Kingdom
Ecodefense, Russia
Environmental Association “Za Zemiata” – Friends of the Earth Bulgaria, Bulgaria
European Environmental Bureau, Belgium
Forum for Protection of Public Interest (Pro Public), Nepal
Friends of the Earth Australia, Australia
Friends of the Earth India, India
Friends of the Earth International, International
Friends of the Earth Japan
Friends of the Earth United States, USA
GAIA Asia Pacific, Regional
Green Action, Japan
Green Citizens’ Action Alliance, Taiwan
Growthwatch, India
Grup de Científics i Tècnics per un Futur No Nuclear, Catalunya
Humanistische Union – Beratung für Frauen, Familien und Jugendliche e.V., Germany
Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP), Japan
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), USA
Jamaa Resource Initiatives, Kenya
International Rivers, International
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Australia
Just Finance International, International
Kiko Network, Japan
Legal Rights And Natural Resources Center, The Philippines
Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World, United States
Mütter gegen Atomgefahr / Mothers against Nuclear Hazard, Austria
New Diplomacy Initiative,Japan
NGO Forum on ADB, Regional
No Nuke Oslo, Norway
No Nukes Asia Forum Japan, Japan
NOAH Friends of the Earth Denmark, Denmark
Noé21, Switzerland
Nuclear-Free Bataan Movement, Philippines
Nuclear Information and Resource Service, USA
NVMP-Artsen voor vrede, The Netherlands
Oyu Tolgoi Watch, Mongolia
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Pakistan
Peace Boat, Japan
Physicians for Social Responsibility, USA
RECH contre le nucléaire, France
Redaktion anti atom aktuell, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
REScoop.eu, Belgium
Réseau “Sortir du nucléaire”, France
Rivers without Boundaries Mongolia, International
San Francisco Bay Physician for Social Responsibility, USA
Stroom naar de Toekomst Limburg, Netherlands
The Liaison Committee for Organizations of Victims of the Nuclear Disaster, Japan
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), USA
Urgewald, Germany
VAKS Verenigde Actie kern Stop (United Action Nuclear Stop), Belgium
WALHI, Indonesia
Women against nuclear power, Finland
Women for peace, Finland
