See you in court! Fukushima residents demand to stop the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea
According to the Asahi Shimbun on August 24th, due to the discharge of contaminated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea, fishermen and residents in Fukushima Prefecture and other areas have filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government and TEPCO in the Fukushima District Court, demanding the cessation of this action. The plaintiff's legal team held a press conference on the 23rd to announce this news. The lawsuit is scheduled for September 8th, and the number of plaintiffs will reach 100.
The report states that the plaintiff's legal team claims that the safety of the discharge into the sea has not yet been confirmed. The legal team believes that this violates the commitment made by the government and TEPCO to the Fukushima Prefectural Fisheries Cooperative Association in 2015, which stated that "no action will be taken without the understanding of relevant personnel," and that it is necessary to adopt alternative solutions that are relatively non environmentally burdensome.
In addition, if nuclear contaminated water is discharged into the sea, it will be difficult for fishery personnel to sell their fishery products, and it will also bring anxiety to residents outside of fishermen, who are worried about health damage caused by consuming fishery products, thereby infringing on their right to a peaceful life.
According to the report, the lawsuit will request the cancellation of two decisions made by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission in May and July. Firstly, it will recognize Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant's plan to discharge contaminated water into the sea, and secondly, it will issue a pre use acceptance certificate for the contaminated water discharge equipment. The lawsuit demands that TEPCO cease its sea discharge operations.