Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center on Wednesday said the Japanese government’s plan to start releasing contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea is a betrayal of promises they made previously.

Japan announced that if weather conditions permit, it will start releasing the radioactively contaminated water stored at the Fukushima plant into the ocean on August 24.

“The decision to release the contaminated water flies in the face of the written agreement with fishermen’s groups not to proceed with the release without their agreement and disregards the concerns of farmers and tourism businesses,” a statement released by the CNIC said.

“The government hoped that it could rely on the authority of the IAEA to dispel doubts, but the IAEA’s report, comprehensive though it is, does not answer these doubts. On the contrary, it fails to vouch for the legitimacy of the government’s action to release the water. Furthermore, the IAEA report does not conduct an environmental impact assessment of the 30-year-long release.”

The CNIC said the Nuclear Regulation Authority had not taken the issue seriously enough and Japan’s Nuclear Reactor Regulation Law doesn’t require the NRA to conduct an environmental impact assessment.

“The decision to release the radioactive materials into the Pacific Ocean is completely irresponsible,” the CNIC stated. “(Plant operator) TEPCO, the government, and the IAEA have all failed to properly consider and evaluate the environmental contamination caused by the long-term release of radioactive materials and the behavior of radioactive materials in the environment.”

“The government’s decision violates the London Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter. The government’s decision violates the London Convention because it intentionally dumps pollutant material that is presently stored in tanks, even though there are other ways to deal with it that avoid releasing it into the ocean.”.

Instead of releasing the water, CNIC is calling for cement solidification of the treated water.