6/12/07

Thousands rally against nuclear power plants in Indonesia

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UPDATED: 15:34, June 12, 2007
Thousands rally against nuclear power plants in Indonesia


Thousands of people took to streets in Indonesia's Central Java province Tuesday demanding the government to drop the plan to build a nuclear power plant in the town of Kudus.

Local residents and environment activists flocked the main streets and public places in Kudus, about 400 km east of Jakarta, in protest against the nuclear plant due in construction started by 2016.

Metro TV footage showed hundreds of people came to the local administration center aboard huge trucks while more people walked on the streets, causing massive traffic jams in the small town.

People carried banners that read "say no to nuclear."

Mochammad Asad, coordinator of the Tuesday's action, told the television the residents had planned a mass rally to the capital city of Jakarta if their call for the cancellation of nuclear project was unheard.

"Nuclear power is not safe for people," he said, citing tragedies in Tokaimura, Japan, Chernobyl in ex-Soviet Union, Three Miles Island in the United States, and Port Hope in Canada.

Kudus Regent Muhammad Tamzil also joined the protest.

The Indonesian government plans to build four nuclear power plants, each with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

Source: Xin