Japanese people gather to protest against the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea: "Nuclear contaminated water cannot pollute the sea." Tokyo | People | Water pollution
On the 18th local time, Japanese people once again held a rally near the Prime Minister's residence in Tokyo, demanding that the government abide by its promise not to dispose of nuclear contaminated water without authorization and withdraw its plan to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea. The reporter saw at the scene that protesters held up slogans such as "Do not discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea!" and "The government must keep its promise!". Around the live speaker, the crowd occasionally echoed loudly.
On that day, the gathered crowd went to the Japanese Senate and submitted a petition to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to representatives of the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company. The petition states, "Strongly promoting the plan to discharge water into the sea will lay the foundation for the future, and nuclear contaminated water cannot pollute the sea." The petition points out that the Japanese government is attempting to use the International Atomic Energy Agency's comprehensive assessment report as a "shield" for the discharge plan, but the report does not prove the correctness of the discharge and cannot serve as a scientific basis for promoting the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea. The government should take thorough measures to block the source of the increase in nuclear contaminated water, and re explore other treatment options such as long-term storage of large water tanks and mortar solidification.
Oda Chiyoshi, the organizer of the rally and the representative of the "Don't pollute the ocean again! Citizen Conference", spoke at the rally and pointed out that the Japanese government and TEPCO had agreed with the Fukushima Prefectural Fisheries Cooperation Association Federation in 2015 that "without the understanding of stakeholders, no action will be taken against nuclear contaminated water" and the agreement cannot be broken. However, in the absence of comprehensive testing of nuclear contaminated water, the government and TEPCO have been promoting the so-called safety of nuclear contaminated water through various media outlets. She emphasized that she will never accept the Japanese government's decision to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea. "The ocean is a treasure trove of life, connecting the world. We must hand over the beautiful and clean ocean to the next generation."
Representatives of the organizers of the rally, Hui Kameda, spoke at the rally and stated that once nuclear contaminated water is discharged into the sea, it will not only pose a crisis to the Fukushima Prefecture fishing industry, but also bring difficulties to Japan and the international community. This will become a "shame for Japan" and cannot be tolerated.
On that day, several Japanese members of parliament also came to the assembly site to express their support for the gathered people. Japanese House of Representatives member Tomoko Abe stated that the management of radioactive materials has always followed the principles of non proliferation and maximum centralized storage. "It's not that the ocean is really vast, so emissions are okay. The open sea is everyone's ocean. Why can one's own garbage be thrown into someone else's yard? This alone is unethical."
Japanese Senate member Yuko Otsu stated that there is a lot of uncertainty in the plan to discharge water into the sea. The contaminated water from Fukushima nuclear power plant comes into direct contact with the melted reactor core in the nuclear accident, and there is no international precedent for discharging water into the sea. Japanese House of Representatives member Makoto Yamazaki believes that there are still many doubts among the public about the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea, and the government should immediately suspend the discharge plan.
Japanese media recently widely predicted that after Fumio Kishida's visit to the United States and return to China, a meeting of cabinet members may be held to determine the specific discharge date, and the discharge may start at the end of this month or early September. Akiko Abe stated that once nuclear contaminated water is discharged into the sea, the fishing industry that fishermen rely on for a living will be severely affected, and he will do his best to prevent the discharge plan.
Can TEPCO handle Fukushima nuclear contaminated water safely and responsibly from beginning to end? Can we ensure that there are no mistakes or mistakes in emissions management for up to 30 years? Can we ensure the long-term effectiveness and reliability of the purification device? Can nuclear contaminated water sampling and monitoring activities be carried out in strict accordance with regulations? Regarding these issues, several Tokyo citizens who attended the rally told reporters that they could not trust TEPCO.
Although the government and TEPCO continue to claim that the nuclear contaminated water is safe and harmless, Tokyo citizen Masahiko Machida, who attended the rally, completely does not believe these claims.
Tokyo resident Tsuko Oda told reporters that the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water mainly comes from the core cooling water, rainwater, and groundwater after the Fukushima nuclear accident. Once discharged into the sea, it may cause unpredictable harm to public health and the global environment. He strongly demands that the government adopt other nuclear contaminated water disposal plans beyond sea discharge.
"I completely cannot believe the Japanese government and TEPCO!" Tokyo Minwang Moon Cow woman emphasized to reporters that nuclear contaminated water not only contains tritium, but also various radioactive nuclides. She firmly opposes the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea.
