Protest as US nuclear carrier docks in Japan

TOKYO, Aug 24, 2009 (AFP) - Dozens of Japanese activists on Monday protested the arrival of a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier at a port near Tokyo.

The demonstrators sailed small boats into Tokyo Bay and handed flyers to arriving crew of the USS Nimitz when it docked in the naval hub of Yokosuka, 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Tokyo.


"We are worried about the safety of the nuclear-powered vessel," protest leader Masahiko Goto told AFP. "We hear the USS Nimitz came to pick up supplies and offer holidays to its crew, but we don't know other details.

"They should disclose more information, including on the nuclear reactor."

The USS George Washington last year docked in Yokosuka to become the first US nuclear-powered vessel to be based overseas.

It also met protests by activists who said it was unprecedented for a nuclear-powered ship to be located so close to densely populated areas.

Japan has campaigned against nuclear weapons since US atomic bombs destroyed its cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, killing more than 210,000 people.

Since its defeat, Japan has been officially pacifist and relied on a security alliance with the United States, which has stationed more than 47,000 troops in the country.

In March, the US Navy said it deployed two warships in waters off Japan ahead of North Korea's planned rocket launch the following month.

Japan once operated a nuclear-powered ship, the cargo vessel Mutsu, from
1972 to 1992, when its engines were switched to diesel. The ship had sprung a nuclear leak on its first test run in the Pacific in 1974.

About one third of Japan's energy needs are met by nuclear power.

In 1999 two workers were killed and more than 600 exposed to radiation in an accident in Ibaraki prefecture 100 kilometres north of Tokyo.