Related to this familyJapan's nuclear contaminated water

Shimizu had to kneel and apologize in front of everyone.

After Japan started discharging nuclear contaminated water, a new name has regained attention.

Tokyo Electric Power Company began discharging the first batch of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean on the 24th.

In fact, in addition to "discharging into the sea", there are four ways to treat nuclear contaminated water: steam release, hydrogen release, underground burial, and injection into the lithosphere. The reason why Dongdian chooses to "discharge pollutants into the sea" is because this method is the most cost-effective.

According to a survey conducted by Asahi Shimbun, over half of the population in Japan expressed opposition to the discharge of pollutants into the sea. More than 80% of the population expressed that "discharging pollutants into the sea" would have a significant negative impact on Japan's aquaculture industry.

Nevertheless, the Japanese government and TEPCO disregarded domestic public opinion and stubbornly discharged a large amount of nuclear wastewater into the common marine resources of humanity.

The focus has once again returned to former president of TEPCO, Masahide Shimizu.

"It's just a joke!"

Qingshui Zhengxiao boasts a strong sense of social mission. When he served as the president, he once said, "We prioritize public welfare. If there are big winds and waves, I will personally go to the scene."

In 2009, two years before the accident, Shimizu gave an interview to Nikkei Industrial News, repeatedly reaffirming the importance of nuclear power generation and stating that "safety measures for nuclear power plants are indispensable.". Japanese media also once boasted about TEPCO under the management of Shimizu as a "safety myth".

However, the slapping came too quickly.

On March 11, 2011, a strong earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean in northeastern Japan, causing severe shaking even at the Japanese Prime Minister's residence in Tokyo. For a moment, high-ranking officials in the official residence hid in the underground crisis management center. More than an hour later, high-ranking officials heard another bad news: "Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has lost all AC power and the cooling machines have stopped working.".

This nuclear power plant is the world's largest Fukushima nuclear power plant and also the first nuclear power plant of TEPCO. The cooling machine stops working, which means that the heat generated by nuclear energy cannot be cooled in a timely manner, and a nuclear explosion may occur at any time.

However, Shimizu Masahide only appeared at the company headquarters the next day, explaining that the train was suspended and he was trapped in western Japan. This dereliction of duty has caused dissatisfaction among the then Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

On March 14th, Shimizu called Naoto Kan, stating that due to damage to the nuclear power plant facilities, he "requested a comprehensive evacuation.".

According to Japanese media reports, Naoto Kan was also in a hurry at the time and had Shimizu rush to the Prime Minister's residence. He said in person, "No one will replace you. Don't imagine retreating! It's just a joke! TEPCO must establish an emergency command center together with the government!"

Naoto Kan proposed to immediately establish an emergency command center at TEPCO headquarters. Shimizu's face turned pale as the conference room at TEPCO headquarters was playing real-time footage of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. If Naoto Kan sees that the situation is even more serious than reported, he cannot bear this responsibility.

The then Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Tetsuro Fukuyama, who was present, defended Shimizu by saying, "Prime Minister, the situation is urgent, and the priority is to evacuate the people first. I don't see any intention of concealing information from TEPCO."

Naoto Kan was annoyed and said, "I'm not here to listen to excuses." He took out his phone and called the on-site staff, saying, "What is the length and width of the missing battery?" Later, Tetsuro Fukuyama said that the Prime Minister's inquiry into such a detailed matter made everyone present feel unbelievable and realized that the Prime Minister's trust in TEPCO had dropped to its lowest point.

Faced with pressure, Qingshui immediately fell ill and moved into the hospital for over two weeks. Nowadays, the nuclear wastewater from TEPCO is discharged into the sea, and many Japanese people remember the mysterious "emergency" in Shimizu back then, calling his hospitalization a "mysterious hospitalization".

Interestingly, there were natural disasters on the outside and illnesses on the inside. During his hospitalization, Shimizu was worried about paying off the loan for high-end apartments in Akasaka ku, Tokyo, and instructed his subordinates to handle his own property. Japanese media reported that at that time, Shimizu felt that Japan was "not quiet enough" and was afraid of being harassed by the media. He even flew to Dubai to recuperate.

The Fukushima nuclear accident has been classified as a maximum level 7. However, when analyzing the causes of the accident, TEPCO still shifted the main responsibility to the outside world, stating that it "overly relied on the judgment of relevant societies" and did not have sufficient understanding of the tsunami incidence rate analyzed by experts.

In 2011, after being discharged from the hospital, Shimizu had to face the anger of the disaster victims. Asahi Shimbun reported that when he took the senior executives of Tohoku Electric Corporation to the Fukushima Stadium where the disaster victims were being resettled, the people on site shouted, "Kneel down quickly.". Shimizu had to kneel and apologize in front of everyone.

After 12 years, many Japanese netizens still itch with hatred when they think of the scene when Shimizu wanted to "retreat" at the first time. A netizen wrote, "If TEPCO had retreated at that time, the entire East Japan region would have been ruined."

"Can we not punish him?"

Just as Shimizu was struggling with the mess of Dongdian, the situation changed.

On August 26, 2011, due to improper handling of the nuclear accident and severe confrontation between the two houses of the Japanese parliament, Naoto Kan of the Democratic Party resigned and Yoshihiko Noda took over. Later, Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party became Prime Minister.

After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Naoto Kan faced tremendous pressure from both the government and the opposition. At the time, Shinzo Abe, who was in opposition, even wrote an article criticizing Naoto Kan's improper command and harshly criticized him. After Naoto Kan stepped down, he was so angry that he sued Abe for "infringing on his right to reputation.".

And what did Abe do?

On August 23 of this year, the Japanese Daily News published an editorial titled "Discharging into the sea is an irresponsible act lacking sincerity", which stated that in 2013, the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emphasized during a speech at the bid site that nuclear contaminated water was "under control.". With the successive exposure of tank leakage incidents, Abe's words have become untrue. In 2015, the Abe cabinet and TEPCO promised to use "the understanding of relevant parties" as a prerequisite for dealing with nuclear contaminated water. However, in 2021, the Yoshihide Suga cabinet forcibly passed the sea discharge plan despite public opposition.

When Abe was prime minister, Shimizu joined the board of directors of Fuji Oil Company and served as an outsider. The so-called external ban refers to members of the board of directors who are not members of the company. Their responsibility is to monitor whether the board of directors of the company is conscientiously performing its duties and has no illegal behavior, which has a certain effect on the transparency of corporate governance. Usually, a company with an external ban will have a higher social rating. However, as soon as the news of Shimizu's transfer came out, Japanese public opinion exploded: "Shouldn't Shimizu Masahide, who risked the world's great injustice, not be punished?".

At that time, along with Shimizu, former Vice President of TEPCO, Takei You, was transferred to the Arab Oil Branch under the AOC Consortium and served as a "temporary inspector" on the board of directors. Shimizu's father-in-law, Katsuma Nagahisa, was appointed as the interim general manager of Japan Atomic Energy Corporation.

It seems that the senior management of Dongdian has been protected.

After the nuclear wastewater discharge into the sea, Japanese public opinion also began to question whether the Fukushima nuclear accident would not have occurred without the East Japan earthquake and tsunami?

Before the Fukushima nuclear accident, there were already serious risks in Japan's nuclear power industry. In 2000, General Motors American engineer Kai Suga worked on an outsourced project for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. During construction, he discovered a crack in a steam dryer inside the plant, posing a significant safety hazard to the plant.

After reporting to TEPCO, Kai Suga received instructions from TEPCO to "delete all relevant evidence and information". Out of a sense of responsibility, Kai Suga sent the evidence to the Japan Atomic Energy Security Agency. However, the agency did not send investigators to the scene. Instead, they provided information about Kanoka Kai to TEPCO, who immediately dismissed him and continued to threaten him in the future.

After the nuclear accident that year, Naoto Kan summoned the head of the Japan Atomic Energy Safety and Security Agency. It seems that this is destined to have little effect.

After the nuclear accident, Shimizu also instructed TEPCO not to use vocabulary such as core melting. "Core melting" refers to the melting of the core, which can cause the leakage of radioactive materials. This deliberate act of concealment has long been present in TEPCO.

Since 1977, TEPCO has conducted a total of 199 regular inspections on its subordinate Fukushima Daiichi and Daiichi Fukushima, as well as 13 reactors at the Kashizaki Sawa nuclear power plant, and has engaged in data tampering and concealment of safety hazards.

Japanese media revealed that before 2018, 80% of the storage tanks were contaminated with nuclear water that had not been completely cleared of radioactive substances other than tritium. However, TEPCO's concealment of this fact has aroused public distrust.

The interest group of "Atomic Energy Village"

According to Japanese media analysis, the reason why TEPCO can do this is because there is an interest group called "Atomic Energy Village".

The Atomic Energy Village is composed of officials, businessmen, and students. "Guan" is a bureaucratic group composed of the Department of Resources and Energy of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Atomic Energy Safety and Security Agency; "Shang" refers to power companies led by TEPCO and nuclear power equipment suppliers such as Hitachi and Toshiba; "Learning" refers to relevant experts and scholars.

This means that the three parties that should have played a role in mutual supervision and restraint have become interest groups that exchange contract agreements, provide high paying jobs, and provide funding, political, and legislative support for the advancement of nuclear power.

The Shimizu family holds an important position in the "Atomic Energy Village". Shimizu's father-in-law was originally the president of TEPCO, but after stepping down, he became the president. Although he did not have real power, his influence remained significant. Shimizu's father is also a former employee of TEPCO.

Perhaps due to the existence of the "Atomic Energy Village", until 2021, Shimizu reappeared in public and still had the confidence to deny its responsibility in the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Someone asked why as early as the internal meeting of TEPCO in 2008, experts proposed a plan to deal with the tsunami, but it was not given enough attention. Shimizu said, "There were too many materials at the meeting at that time, and I didn't see a plan to deal with the tsunami, so I didn't even remember."

Since the Fukushima nuclear accident, victims in Japan have found it difficult to hold TEPCO accountable and can only defend their rights through lawsuits filed by TEPCO shareholders. 48 shareholders filed a lawsuit against the former senior management of TEPCO, claiming that they had neglected to develop tsunami response measures and caused huge losses to society, and demanded compensation from TEPCO.

The Japanese judicial system naturally sided with the "Atomic Energy Village", and this case was appealed multiple times and rejected multiple times. It was not until 2022 that TEPCO shareholders won this lawsuit. On July 13th of that year, one of the plaintiffs, Kimura Jie, walked out of the court and excitedly opened a scroll with the words "Zhuzhu Victory" written on it.

However, the earliest victims of the serious harm caused by the discharge of nuclear wastewater into the sea were the Japanese people. Is there really a winner in this situation?

On August 24th of this year, Fukushima nuclear contaminated water was officially discharged into the sea, and the on-site instruction was given by the current president of TEPCO, Chiaki Kobayakawa. He was born in 1963 and was the first president of the company to have a degree in science and engineering. He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1988 and joined TEPCO in the same year, where he worked as a clerk and eventually became the president. Japanese netizens call him "highly analytical and skilled in calculation.".

Why choose to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea on August 24th? According to Japanese media analysis, this is to monitor water quality for a period of time before the start of fishing in Fukushima on September 1st, in order to demonstrate the so-called "safety". But Fukushima fisherman Haruhiro Ono, who has been fishing for over 50 years, angrily said, "No one in Fukushima can accept it."