(ENInews)–Protestant churches in Tanzania have cautioned the government against extracting uranium deposits recently discovered in the East African country, noting that Germany plans to close its nuclear power stations by 2022 and the Japanese city of Fukushima is still recovering from the 2011 earthquake-caused nuclear disaster. The churches, who are members of the Christian Council of Tanzania, have highlighted the Fukushima situation, where the Daiichi plant released radioactive material into the surrounding countryside, saying that Tanzania lacks safe structures to explore, mine or export the mineral. Germany announced in May 2011 that it will abandon nuclear energy completely within 11 years, saying it wants to focus on renewable energy. “The government should quickly stop the exploration and mining of uranium,” the Rev. Leonard Mtaita, a Lutheran who is the council’s general secretary, told ENInews on 15 June. [284 words, ENI-12-0351]