Launch of the Nationwide Signature Campaign against nuclear power plants in Malaysia
The Malaysian Coalition Against Nuclear (MY-CAN) of which the CAP, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Third World Network and the Malaysian Physicians for Social Responsibility are members of, invites all concerned citizens of Malaysia (read on to know why you should be concerned about our government going nuclear), to attend the launch of our Nationwide Signature Campaign Against Nuclear Power Plants in Malaysia and be party to the online petition that is to be sent to the Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Members of the Cabinet and the National Energy Commission.
The Malaysian government has not seriously taken into account the health and safety aspects of nuclear energy. Murphy’s Law dictates that there is no such thing as nuclear safety or a fail-safe nuclear reactor. Human error and unpredictable events are unavoidable, making nuclear reactor safety uncertain. The recent catastrophic nuclear accident in Fukushima has brought Japan to its knees and persuaded many countries, including Germany and Italy, to phase out nuclear power and invest in renewable energy.
Even without such accidents, a nuclear power plant is dangerous to health. A scientific study, published in the European Journal of Cancer Care in 2008, revealed that leukaemia death rates in American children living near nuclear power plants in the United States have risen sharply in the past two decades. The greatest increases in mortality rates occurred near the oldest nuclear power plants (NPPs), whereas declining rates were observed near plants that were closed permanently in the 1980s and 1990s. The 13.9% rise in deaths near older NPPs suggests a potential effect of greater radioactive contamination near nuclear reactors.
In a 2007 meta-analysis of 17 research papers, covering 136 nuclear sites in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, the United States, Germany, Japan and Spain, the incidence of leukaemia in children under nine, living close to the sites, showed an increase from 14% to 21%, while death rates rose from 5% to 24%.
A German study, published in the International Journal of Cancer in 2008, found a 60% increase in cancers and a 117% increase in leukaemia among young children living near all 16 large German NPPs between 1980 and 2003. This finding has been accepted by the German government.
In Malaysia, the Bukit Merah tragedy is testament to the lethal danger of radioactive contamination.
Nuclear power is not environmentally friendly or safe. The nuclear fuel cycle itself – uranium mining, extraction, fuel enrichment, plant construction, maintenance and monitoring, processing and storing radioactive waste, decommissioning and cleaning up radioactive contamination – requires an enormous supply of energy, much more than other energy sources; making it an economic failure for tax payers.
NPPs also produce ultra-hazardous, highly radioactive waste that will remain radioactive for more than a hundred thousand years. No country in the world has managed to safely dispose of its nuclear waste permanently, as currently there is no such technology.
Regrettably, the Malaysian government seems to be indifferent to the atrocious health and environmental track record of NPPs around the world. Reports indicate that the government has identified several potential sites for the construction of two nuclear reactors but the Rakyat have been kept in the dark about these NPPs and are very concerned about the lack of transparency and accountability. As lethal radiation is odourless, invisible and knows no boundaries, every Malaysian citizen has a right and a civic responsibility to oppose the introduction of nuclear energy, when the worldwide trend is to invest in and rely on renewable sources of energy.
Please visit our Facebook page for more information and sign the Public Petition to Stop Nuclear Power Plants in Malaysia by calling on the Government of Malaysia to apply the Precautionary Principle, abandon its plans to build nuclear power plants, and instead take the path to Safe, Sustainable, Renewable Energy.
We need a million people to sign on and stop the Government’s plans of going nuclear. Do keep this momentum going and share with your friends.
Campaign launch
Date: May 09, 2012
Time: 10.00am
Venue: Bar Council Auditorium, No. 13, 15 & 17, Leboh Pasar, 50050 Kuala Lumpur
Should you require further information, please call Theiva at 017-2440505