nuclear-news

Morimoto has an inoperable brain tumour affecting her balance. Nearly seven decades after the nuclear bombs exploded, Japanese people are still living each day with the terrible aftermath of the radiation on the environment and their health, with genetic damage passing to future generations. 
“Hiroshima and Nagasaki taught us two things. One is that we human beings have acquired the ability to create hell. The other is that we are so foolish, untrustworthy and pathetic that we would actually put this frightening ability to use,” says Morimoto, an accomplished author and artist who migrated to Australia in 1981.

July 8 marked the 15th anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s landmark advisory opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons. The court unanimously held that nations have a legal obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons under strict and effective international control.

Advocates for a nuclear-free world addressed a packed public forum at the Melbourne Town Hall on July 5, hosted by The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and the Australian Red Cross.

NOT JUST AN OPTION

Speaking on the occasion, former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser said, “Disarmament is not just an option; it is mandated by international law. This is best fulfilled through a nuclear weapons convention – a comprehensive treaty prohibiting the possession of nuclear weapons by any state, and establishing the legal mechanisms necessary to accomplish the elimination of all warheads within a defined period.”

Today there are more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in the arsenals of eight or nine countries, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Yearbook 2011.

The U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel possess more than 20,500 nuclear weapons. Over 5000 of these weapons are deployed and ready for use, including nearly 2000 that are kept in a state of high operational alert.

An international Global Zero movement for a world without nuclear weapons forecasts that global spending on nuclear weapons would surpass US$1 Trillion over the next decade. The nuclear weapons countries are collectively spending approximately US$ 100 billion on their nuclear programs this year.

“Political leaders should understand that nuclear weapons do not contribute to anyone’s safety. They make the whole world a much more dangerous place. More and more countries have the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon. If positive moves towards nuclear disarmament are not pushed much harder, more countries will seek nuclear weapons and the danger of nuclear war, by deliberation or by accident, will become greater,” Fraser told IDN……

Australia has 40 per cent of the world’s uranium reserves and it is a significant uranium exporter. “Our uranium exports do pose a problem for disarmament. Even if there are safeguards agreements in place with countries receiving uranium, there is always a risk that it will be used in weapons or it will be freeing up domestic uranium reserves for that purpose. We need to be looking at ways to wind up the uranium industry in Australia, if we are serious about non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,” ICAN Australia’s Campaign Director, Tim Wright, told IDN.

The recent nuclear power crisis in Fukushima has alerted governments and public across the world to the inherent dangers of nuclear technology for electricity production. ICAN points out that the starting material is the same and the effects of radiation are completely indiscriminate and identical whether it is radiation from a nuclear reactor or a nuclear bomb. …