Tokyo, Japan – A Japanese governmental subcommittee today submitted its three-part, calamitously drafted proposal for managing more than one million tonnes of radioactive water resulting from the TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster of 2011. The subcommittee devastatingly proposed: to discharge the radioactive water directly into the environment via ocean discharge, vapour release into the lower atmosphere, or a combination of the two above methods. This proposal chosen by the subcommittee\u2019s secretariat poses the least financial cost to Japan but the most immediate threat to the environment and highlights the government\u2019s complete failure to consider safer alternatives, stated Greenpeace Japan.<\/p>\n\n
Established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), the Subcommittee on Handling ALPS Treated Water (Advanced Liquid Processing System), submitted its flawed draft proposal at a meeting this afternoon in Tokyo. The members of the subcommittee in the past raised concerns over the radioactive water issue and TEPCO\u2019s handling of the issue. In recent months, the subcommittee managed to secure confirmation from TEPCO that additional storage space for the radioactive water is in fact available. However, the government officials (who work for METI) controlling the subcommittee have pushed for today\u2019s draft proposal under the false premise that space was running out for continued water storage.
Due to the meltdown of three reactors at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011 – including unsuccessful prevention of groundwater contamination and failure of the ALPS technology – 80 percent of the radioactive water contains more radioactive materials than regulatory limits as revealed last year.[1] This past year, Greenpeace Germany\u2019s analysis has shown that the Fukushima water crisis is a consequence of poor decision making, the wrong technology choices, and cost-cutting measures.[2]<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThere is no justification for additional, deliberate radioactive pollution of the marine environment or atmosphere. Any decision to discharge over one million tonnes of highly radioactive water into the Pacific or into the atmosphere is clearly a direct concern to the people of Fukushima, including fisheries. <\/p>\n\n
However, this is not just a domestic issue, and the government of Japan must explain to the international community – including its nearest neighbours in Asia – why it advocates for the water discharge into the Pacific Ocean or release to the atmosphere while failing to develop alternative solutions. Today\u2019s development only makes Greenpeace more determined to stop these radioactive discharges,\u201d said Shaun Burnie, a nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Germany.<\/p>\n\n
The drafted proposal by the subcommittee is to\nbe taken to local stakeholders in Fukushima Prefecture, including fishing\ncommunities. In 2018, citizens strongly condemned the option to discharge the\nradioactive water into the Pacific during public hearings. More recently,\nGreenpeace Japan\u2019s opinion poll conducted in September 2019 showed that only\n15.9 percent of Fukushima citizens supported the release of radioactive water\ninto the ocean.[3]
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\nGreenpeace Japan advocates that the least environmentally damaging option is\nthe long-term storage of the radioactive water in robust tanks combined with\nthe application of the most advanced processing technology to remove all\nradionuclides, including tritium. So far, the Japanese government and TEPCO\nhave wrongly concluded that such an option is not feasible.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cFrom day one of the nuclear disaster, the\nGovernment\u2019s management of the radioactive water crisis has resulted in\nwell-documented failure after failure. Today\u2019s draft proposal is yet another\nfailure, but it is not the end of this highly controversial issue. No decision\ncan be made by the Government without local approval, and the message from the\ncommunities of Fukushima \u2013 including the Fukushima Prefectural Federation of\nFisheries Cooperative Associations \u2013 is that discharging the radioactive water\ninto the Pacific is not an option,\u201d said Kazue Suzuki, energy campaigner of\nGreenpeace Japan, who observed today\u2019s subcommittee meeting.<\/p>\n\n
Japan should not make decisions to cut costs at\nthe expense of the environment, local community lands, and the wider pollution\nof the Pacific and other seas but instead, continue to store the radioactive\nwater in the confirmed, additionally available space while carefully\nconsidering safer and more sustainable alternatives for Fukushima\u2019s radioactive\nwater to remove all radionuclides.<\/p>\n\n
ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Notes:<\/p>\n\n [1] The Asahi Shimbun<\/a> (October 9, 2018). EDITORIAL: TEPCO bungles it again in dealing with Fukushima tainted water<\/a>, [3] The polling in Fukushima prefecture <\/a>showed only 15.9% approval of discharge, compared with\n43.3% who oppose. Of those who oppose discharge, nationwide 51% stated that\ntheir principal concerns were that discharging will have a negative impact, not\njust in Fukushima and wider Japan, but also internationally. In Fukushima,\n52.9% think it will have a negative effect on Fukushima fisheries. Greenpeace commissioned Rakuten Insight, a member of the\nJMRA (Japan Marketing Research Association), and the ESOMAR (Europe Society\nOpinion and Market Research Association); poll results (in Japanese).<\/p>\n\n Contacts:<\/p>\n\n Shaun Burnie, Senior Nuclear Specialist, Greenpeace Germany, shaun.burnie@greenpeace.org, +49 151-6432-0548<\/p>\n\n Mitsuhisa Kawase, Communications Officer, Greenpeace Japan, mitsuhisa.kawase@greenpeace.org, +81 (0) 70-3195-4165<\/p>\n\n Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0) 20 718 2470, pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org<\/a> (available 24 hours)<\/p>\n\n
[2] See link to GP Fukushima water report.<\/a><\/p>\n\n