We the undersigned organisations, movements and groups ftom all over the world, are deeply concerned about the application of the Finnish energy company Teollisuuden Voima Oy to the Finnish government concerning the building of a new nuclear power plant in Finland.

Today there is enough evidence that nowhere in the world has the industry been able to demonstrate that it can safely deal with the highly dangerous wastes that are an inevitable consequence of the nuclear fuel cycle. Uranium mining has caused extreme damage to both environment and mankind. Chernobyl, Harrisburg, Sellafield and numerous other accidents have broken the myth that nuclear power is safe and clean. The mess created by the nuclear industry will take centuries to clean up.

In the past, the nuclear industry has survived on massive subsidies, indirect and direct. But deregulation of the electricity supply industry has in recent years exposed the true costs of nuclear power, without even taking decommissioning, waste-management and health damages into account. As a consequence, the nuclear industry has reached a dead end, with no orders for new reactors anywhere in the rest of Western Europe or the United States.

Nuclear energy has no future. The political will to realise this and to move ahead towards the Age of Sustainable Energy has become reality in almost all Western economies in the last few years. We sincerely hope that Finland shall not be the only exception.

All around the world Finland has got a reputation of being a high technology country where citizens and politicians show respect for nature and understand the importance of environmental sustainability. Thus Finland is expected to play a significant role in the creating of new energy technologies based on renewable energy sources and in the creating of new methods for energy saving.

We therefore appeal to the Finnish Government and the Finnish Parliament to put an end to the nuclear experiment. Do not invest in an outdated technology - invest in the future!

The appeal is supported by INFORSE-Europe and many other NGOs