29 September 2011 – Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific condemns the first International Nuclear Energy Olympiad taking place in South Korea where this event is being used as an opportunity to export dangerous nuclear technology abroad.
The International Nuclear Energy Olympiad organised by the World Nuclear University (WNU) and hosted by Korea Nuclear Energy Promotion Agency (KONEPA) is being attended by university students from 10 countries including Malaysia, India and Turkey where South Korea has watched for a chance to export nuclear energy facilities.
Holding the competition at this time shows callousness particularly to Japanese and a shaken world having witnessed the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima. Despite the unresolved crisis in Japan, the Korean government and the nuclear industry have only intensified their nuclear ambition whilst turning a blind eye to the cost of impossibility of remediation, human health and environmental devastation in the neighboring country.
KONEPA and WNU’s belief that nuclear technology is safe, cost-effective, pollution-free and does not emit greenhouse gases is very misleading because it seems to debunk or cast aside the actual outcome of Fukushima. It is common knowledge that there are other sustainable and viable renewable energy alternatives that can be seriously considered. Due to the ample options, nuclear technology should not even be considered.
Fukushima has shown that it is not the corporate and government officials championing nuclear energy that put their lives in line during nuclear emergencies but the heroic workers who exposed themselves to radiation in order to stabilize the nuclear plant that has caused more than 50,000 people to flee the prefecture fearing the effects of the contamination on their children. Far from the impact site, nuclear industry players and government officials go on downplaying the risks of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima.
“KONEPA, as a public agency under Ministry of Economy, should be condemned for hosting the retrograde events using subsidies by government revenues.” said Hye Jung Kim, nuclear expert of Friends of the Earth Korea. “Export of nuclear power plants is no more than a spread of risk. Korea government’s nuclear export policy should be scrapped immediately.”
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific convenor Hemantha Withanage said it is such a shame the nuclear industry is now resorting to drafting youths to promote their dirty work. This should not be allowed because youths are of an impressionable age and poisoning their minds with nuclear untruths is ethically wrong, he added.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific
Media Contact
Hemantha Withanage, Executive Director, Centre for Environmental Justice/Friends of the Earth Sri Lanka, hemantha@ejustice.lk
Jieon Lee, climate justice and energy coordinator, Friends of the Earth Korea, jiean.lee@gmail.com
