Protest letter against the U.K. subcritical nuclear test (February 24, 2006)

February 24, 2006

The Honorable Tony Blair
Prime Minister
The Honorable Sir Graham Holbrook Fry
Ambassador to Japan
United Kingdom

Letter of Protest

The United Kingdom, in conjunction with the US, conducted a subcritical nuclear test at the American underground test site in Nevada on February 23.

With the international community gravely concerned about nuclear proliferation, the US purports to be leading the effort to find a peaceful resolution to the problem of Iran’s nuclear program, yet you conduct a subcritical nuclear test, a clear indication that you are developing new nuclear weapons. Such behavior is intolerable. You have brought the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the international agreement regarding nuclear weapons, to the brink of collapse, and, we fear, are provoking a new round of proliferation.

Mayors for Peace is conducting an Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons that has been endorsed by the US Conference of Mayors, the National Conference of Black Mayors, the European Parliament, the International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War, and many other organizations around the world. The vast majority of people and nations on this planet desire the total abolition of nuclear weapons, yet you utterly discount them and arrogantly conduct a subcritical nuclear test. I am outraged by your trampling on the hopes and desires of the A-bomb survivors and countless millions around the world seeking liberation from nuclear weapons, and, on behalf of the A-bombed city Hiroshima, I vehemently protest.

Just as the US fears the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other countries and to terrorist organizations, the international community is profoundly alarmed by your vast nuclear arsenal and seeming determination to develop new nuclear weapons. The prevention of proliferation requires not the “rule of might” but cooperation and monitoring by the international community. Thus, we urge you to immediately ratify the CTBT, halt all nuclear testing, including subcritical testing, halt all development of new nuclear weapons, and take the lead in a convincing effort to build a genuinely peaceful 21st century free from nuclear weapons.

Tadatoshi Akiba
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima