JAPAN’S WASTEWATER CAUSES A STIR
Activists and academics around the Pacific and across the globe are joining forces to fight plans by Japan to start dumping nuclear waste from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
It’s just horrendous to think what it might mean as the people of the Pacific are people of the ocean.
Japan’s plan to discharge more than a million tonnes of ‘treated water’ from its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to the Pacific Ocean continues to get strong opposition.
An Open ‘Talanoa’ Forum aimed at highlighting the concerns with regards to this plan was held last Friday at Davuilevu.
More than 50 people, including constituent leaders, youth wing members and academics attended the event. Also taking part was the Nasinu SODELPA Constituency committee along with the party’s youth wing.
Last week, government officials from the Japanese Government spoke to and local Pacific media and reporters in their bid to raise awareness and answer questions on the issue.
A Japanese government official insisted that the release of ‘treated water’ was safe and posed minimal to no risk at all to the ocean.
He said the “Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) treated water” has been sufficiently purified until the concentration of radioactive materials other than tritium is below the regulatory standard.
He said this will be further diluted, so that the tritium concentration will be far less than the regulatory standard.
The government official added that the concentration of radioactive materials in the diluted ALPS treated water is well below the regulatory standard.
He insisted that the water planned for discharge into the sea (ALPS treated water) has a radioactive concentration far below the regulatory standard.
“Misinformation dissemination is spreading harmful rumors and adversely affecting the lives of people in Fukushima. We would like to ask you to help us in the reconstruction of Fukushima.”
Davuilevu Meeting
With the theme, ‘Denuclearization of the Pacific’, discussions held during the talanoa session in Davuilevu aimed at finding a solution to stop what may bewine catastrophic to our marine resources.
Speaking on behalf of the forum, deputy secretary general of USPSA, Law graduate and postgraduate student in Diplomacy and International Affairs at the University of the South Pacific, Aneet Kumar said that in early 1985, on the eve of former Japanese Prime
Minister Yasuhiro Nakasones visit to Fiji, had announced that he would shelve Japan’s proposal of dumping nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean. “This came after strong opposition from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea of Japan’s earlier announcement in 1984 to drop a large amount of “low level” nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean,” Kumar said. “Thirty-five years down the line, the region yet again faces the same issue as Japan had earlier announced that it will be discharging over one million tonnes of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean within a set timeframe prompting not only the Pacific leaders but also youths of the Pacific to revisit a legacy that is not well-known to many of us,” he added.
Doctor Robert Wolfgramm, a Phd in Anthropology/Sociology and former Professor at Monash University in Melbourne speaking on behalf of the forum as well, stated that Fiji must join the growing chorus of Pacific and regional voices of concern about Japan’s plans for its nuclear wastewater. “Will it treat the poison at home? Or dump it in the Pacific thereby threatening the eco-systems that form the basis of the Indigenous Pacific livelihood and future,” Dr. Wolfgramm said. “Japan should stop perpetuating nuclear colonialism, and instead respect the sovereignty and self-determination of Pacific nations. The Pacific Ocean does not belong to Japan but to everybody,” he added.
SODELPA Youth Wing member, Dionisia Koroi during the talanoa forum, said that Pacific Island nations have for decades been grappling with the environmental and health consequences of Cold War era nuclear testing in the region by the likes of the US and France. Now, they worry about another kind of nuclear danger from neighbors much closer to home.
“It’s just horrendous to think what it might mean as the people of the Pacific are people of the ocean. The ocean is very much central to our lives, to our culture, to our livelihoods. Anything that harms the health of the ocean is a matter of serious concern,” Koroi said.
“The early US Nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands came at a heavy cost to the Pacific Island nations. It is an inspiration to today’s islanders that, just like dealing with earthquakes, tsunamis and rising sea levels, avoiding the threat of nuclear leaks is something that a new generation of young people need to focus on and strive for. The new generation of Pacific Islanders will take responsibility for its protection,” said Mesake Koroi, MC of Talanoa Forum.
The Nasinu SODELPA Constituency will meet today, Tuesday March 28, to table the discussions and push the agenda through to the government to ensure that Japan’s initiation of dumping in the Pacific Ocean is stopped permanently.