Nagasaki mayor protests against U.S. plan to resume producing ignition system for nuclear warheads

Ito Iccho, mayor of Nagasaki City, on June 2 sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Japan in protest against the U.S. plan to resume the production of triggers for nuclear warheads.

On May 31, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the plan to resume making plutonium triggers, which are the critical components of nuclear weapons. The DOE had stopped production in 1989.

Mayor Ito stated, "It goes against the world current moving slowly but steadfastly towards nuclear disarmament, and paves the way for a new nuclear arms race." (end)