Hiroshima's mayor criticizes Japan's nuclear deal with India

Hiroshima’s mayor criticised Japan’s nuclear cooperation deal with India on Tuesday during the annual commemoration the 68th anniversary of the historic atomic bomb attack.

“Even if the nuclear power agreement the Japanese government is negotiating with India promotes their economic relationship, it is likely to hinder nuclear weapons abolition,” Mayor Kazumi Matsui said at the ceremony.

Matsui urged Tokyo to “strengthen ties with the governments pursuing abolition (of nuclear weapons).” The anniversary came as the government was criticised for trying to restart more nuclear reactors and to export nuclear technologies despite the nation’s worst nuclear disaster two years ago.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The nation’s 50 reactors had been offline since the disaster, but two of them were restarted despite opposition last year.

Residents of north-eastern Japan are “still suffering the aftermath of the great earthquake and the nuclear accident,” Matsui said.

“The desperate struggle to recover hometowns continues. The people of Hiroshima know well the ordeal of recovery.

“We urge the national government to rapidly develop and implement a responsible energy policy that places top priority on safety and the livelihoods of the people,” he said.

Anti-nuclear activists criticised Tokyo for declining to support a statement urging that nuclear weapons never again be used under any circumstances. The statement was prepared in Geneva in April for the next Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review meeting.

Hiroshima was the target of the first nuclear weapon to be used against human beings. On August 6, 1945, a US B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb, devastating the city. An estimated 140,000 people died by the end of the year because of the bombing.

On Tuesday, about 50,000 people attended the observance in Peace Memorial Park near ground zero. Attendees included representatives of about 70 countries, including US Ambassador to Japan John Roos.