We, the undersigned individuals and organizations from across the world stand in solidarity with communities in India protesting against the visit of the French President Emmanuel Macron, who will be signing a Framework Agreement for the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) during his visit.

This project threatens to destroy the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people – farmers, fisherfolk, women and children – in the Konkan region of Maharashtra state. JNPP will be the world’s largest nuclear power park with 6 European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) of 1650 MW capacity each. The project was sanctioned in India without any cost-benefit analysis nor a comprehensive analysis of safety, social impacts and cost of the electricity from the nuclear plant.

On the eve of the meeting of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in August 2008, India announced it would buy reactors from France in exchange for its diplomatic support. The Indian government, including senior officials of its nuclear establishment, have since maintained that the project must be set up to accommodate the interests of foreign suppliers. Holding the Jaitapur nuclear project a fait accompli, the Indian government has brutally suppressed the massive and peaceful agitations by the local communities, killing and arresting protesters in the past. It has also turned the democratically mandated procedures for environmental clearance and land acquisition into violent farce – invariably, people’s consent is taken at the gunpoint during public hearings.

It is shocking that the obsession with the Jaitapur project has remained unchanged despite the global decline of the nuclear industry in recent years, serious safety concerns raised by the French nuclear regulator, as well as the massive cost and time overruns of EPR projects in Finland, China and France.

The safety concerns in Jaitapur, expressed by independent experts including the former chief of India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, is exacerbated by the complete lack of transparency and accountability of the Indian nuclear establishment. The absence of a non-independent regulator, and resorting to ‘national security’ as a justification for denying the public basic information about radiation safety and site selection, provide no confidence among the common citizenry.

Mr. Macron will be visiting India, ironically, on March 11, which will mark seven years of the ongoing nuclear accident in Fukushima. Tens of thousands of people continue to remain evacuated in Japan due to the nuclear disaster while the operating company and Japanese government are busy finding ways to deny them support. The Fukushima accident has brought out the inherently unsafe nature of nuclear technology as well as the insurmountable nature of nuclear accidents whose consequences are irreversible.

We strongly urge the Indian government to learn from Fukushima and stop imposing dangerous nuclear plants on its population. We express anguish at the callous profit-mongering by the French nuclear industry which is pushing for the Jaitapur project despite the EPR’s abject financial failures and undeniable safety risks.

The French President will also be releasing his autobiography during his visit to India, in which he exhorts his love for India and Mahatma Gandhi. We urge Mr. Macron to listen to the non-violent protests underway for past the 10 years in Jaitapur to protect a fragile environment and basic human rights.

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