We Must Abandon Nuclear Energy, NOW ! Call from Geneva II to the Political Authorities

There are about 440 nuclear reactors operating throughout the world.

"The text “ L’APPEL DE GENÈVE II ” has been written to awaken the public to the very real dangers which nuclear energy presents. It is hoped that each recipient of the text will forward it to many others and that this will result in insights, initiatives, publications and actions to encourage our governments to take their responsibilities for the dangers of nuclear energy generation seriously." : 

Paul Bonny, citizen

CALL from GENEVA II to the POLITICAL AUTHORITIES
We must abandon nuclear energy, NOW !

Only twenty-five years have elapsed between the nuclear disasters of Chernobyl and Fukushima. And yet, we were assured that such accidents were virtually impossible!

Our politicians believed this, and so did we. In reality, though it is impossible to calculate the probability of such accidents, it was estimated that an accident would only occur once every 100,000 years. The sad reality is that there have been two accidents in the last twenty-five years. Today there are about 440 active nuclear plants operating throughout the world. The next disaster could happen anywhere and at any time.

The current state of these ageing plants can only further increase the risk of a disaster.

The radioactive waste generated by these plants is terrifying: it is sufficient to kill every living person on the planet, and that tens of thousand of times over. It would be enough that a minute proportion of this waste were released into the environment to provoke a catastrophe. Never forget that what could happen, does happen – Chernobyl and Fukushima are both ample proof of this.

The only way of eliminating this risk is to stop nuclear generation, to store the waste which it has produced, to extract spent fuel and seal it in suitable containers, and to transform nuclear plants into mausoleums. These mausoleums will become monumental witnesses to future generations of the consequences and risks of using uncontrolled technologies.

Instead of trying to make us forget disasters that have already happened, states, international institutions and leading economic powers must make the decision to give up nuclear power and move towards replacing it entirely with renewable energies.

This would be perfectly possible if all the barriers to the development of renewable energies were removed.

We cannot continue to take the risk of a deadly nuclear disaster, which would leave large areas uninhabitable for centuries to come, just because of our questionable need for electricity. Don’t forget that the decision was taken to build nuclear plants before anyone asked questions about selling the electricity they produced. This lead electricity companies to promote the development, most notably, of electric heating and indiscriminate public lighting.

Nuclear energy is not a renewable energy, and at some point we will inevitably have to abandon it. Any delay simply increases the risk of the next disaster. The only responsible response, and the only way to limit the intractable problems it will cause for future generations, is to give up nuclear energy now.

Geneva, 24 May 2013

Pierre Lehmann, nuclear physicist – Yves Lenoir, physicist – Rémy Pagani, Mayor of Geneva, Wladimir Tchertkoff, Vice-pres. Enfants de Tchernobyl/Bélarus

Paul Bonny, citizen.


The origin and goals of this CALL

In 1978, a group from the University of Geneva, appealed to politicians throughout Europe and to the European Parliament to find an alternative to the Super-Phoenix breeder reactor at Creys-Malville (France). This was the “L’APPEL DE GENÈVE”.

Thirty-five years later some friends, aware of the growing challenge posed by nuclear energy, are concerned at the lack of information which has been released concerning the causes and effects of the nuclear disaster at Fukishima in Japan. It would appear that nuclear energy providers hope the “incident” will soon be forgotten and that this will permit them to develop new nuclear projects.

The text “ L’APPEL DE GENÈVE II ” has been written to awaken the public to the very real dangers which nuclear energy presents. It is hoped that each recipient of the text will forward it to many others and that this will result in insights, initiatives, publications and actions to encourage our governments to take their responsibilities to the dangers of nuclear energy generation seriously.

We have neither the structure nor the possibility of managing an operation on a global scale, but only desire to contribute, with our limited means, to the abandonment of nuclear energy and the risks that go with it and to hasten the transition to renewable energies, which are without danger.

For more informations please contact : bonny.paul@bluewin.ch