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2012 December 19 - 25 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Lithuanians request Hitachi to halt building of nuclear plant

“Hitachi should stop exporting its nuclear power plant to Lithuania!” Members of Lithuanian and Japanese NGOs took an action on December 19 in front of Hitachi’s head office in central Tokyo, demanding the company cancel its plan to build an NPP in Lithuania.

Andrey Ozharovsky, a Lithuanian NGO member, said that about 63% of the Lithuanian people were against the construction of the plant in a referendum and that he wants Hitachi to respect the majority’s demand. A Japanese woman from Yokohama City stated, “The maker should not ship ‘another Fukushima’ abroad.” Those activists and their supporters chanted, “Good-bye, nuclear power!” “Stop the export!”

In Lithuania, nuclear plants built in the Soviet era were decommissioned in the last decade. After that, the Lithuanian government started to promote a new NPP construction project. In 2011, Hitachi obtained a preferential negotiating right to the project. This move has attracted international attention as the first export of a nuclear plant from Japan after last year’s nuclear disaster in Fukushima.

Lithuanian environmentalist organizations and opposition parties have built a campaign against the project across the nation. In the national referendum in October, over 60% voters opposed the planned construction. In the parliamentary election held along with the referendum, a ruling party furthering the project lost power.

Ozharovsky said, “The new coalition government has yet to make its stand clear on the issue. Hitachi still clings to the plan. We want to block the project together with Japanese people seeking a nuclear power-free society.”

The participants handed over a petition to officials of the corporation, also sending the document to both the Lithuanian and Japanese administrations.


Past related past article
> METI intends to use post-disaster recovery budget for nuclear exports [October 31, 2012]