TOKYO (UCAN): Abolition of Nuclear Power: An Appeal from the Catholic Church in Japan, the English version of the book written by Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan, is now available for free as a PDF download from their website at https://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/2020/07/08/20963/.
The bishops wrote the book after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station suffered a serious accident and a meltdown after an earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011.
They concluded that nuclear power generation should be immediately abolished in the face of the insoluble dangers it presents, including widespread health damage to children.
Japan’s bishops worked with researchers in various fields to explore the damage caused by the Fukushima accident, the technical and sociological limitations of nuclear power production, and ethical and theological considerations involved.
They believe that Japan, having suffered such a severe nuclear accident, has a responsibility to inform the world of the reality of the damage and to appeal for the abolition of nuclear power generation.
Once a severe accident occurs, they argue, nuclear power generation destroys the environment over a wide area for generations and damages the right to life and livelihood.
Nuclear power is essentially incompatible with the image of the earth as a symbiotic society, which Pope Francis shows in his encyclical Laudato Si’, the bishops say.
In November 2019, the pope visited Japan and met with victims of the earthquake and Fukushima accident. During an in-flight press conference while returning to Rome, he said: “A nuclear disaster from a nuclear plant will be a huge disaster. And safety measures have not yet been developed.”
Japan’s bishops hope that their proposed elimination of nuclear power generation will be discussed as an important issue for the sustainability of the earth.
