More than six months after Japan started releasing nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima plant into the sea, its people again voiced their opposition to the discharge during a three-day visit to the country by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the UN nuclear watchdog, arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday. He met with locals in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture on Wednesday and visited the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, his first since July. Notably, it was his first visit following the commencement of the discharge.
While the Japanese government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company have asserted the safety and necessity of the discharge, neighboring nations and local stakeholders have raised concerns over potential environmental effects.
"If I could meet the IAEA chief, I would like to tell him that local residents do not want any further spread of radiation into the sea," Iwaki resident Chiyo Oda said. "I urge him to stop TEPCO from discharging such water into the ocean."
The IAEA's impartiality and independence have been distorted by some Japanese media, with the phrase "seal of approval" being bandied about in reports, Oda said, adding the phrase misrepresented the agency's stand.
In fact, the IAEA has not given its approval for the discharge, said Motoo Tomizuka, a member of No Nukes Plaza Tokyo, a nonprofit organization also known as Tanpoposya. What the agency said is it will not oppose the discharge because it is something the Japanese government has already decided, he said.
Recently, there were two major accidents during the treatment of toxic water, resulting in workers being severely exposed to highly radioactive water.
"TEPCO lacks the ability to work safely and effectively," Tomizuka said. "If the IAEA is going to monitor TEPCO's sloppy work in treating contaminated water and urge for improvements, then there might be some meaning in Grossi's visit."
But he said he believes there is no way to improve the safety of discharging the water into the ocean. "The best way is to stop the release."
One of the plaintiffs suing the Japanese government and TEPCO over the discharge said: "I want to ask Grossi: 'Even if there have been no immediate impacts in recent years, what are your thoughts on the potential long-term effects of pollution on the sea several decades from now? If such effects were to occur, how do you feel about the responsibility toward the future?'"
Given the Japanese government has contributed a significant amount in funding to the IAEA in the past, the plaintiff, who declined to be named, said she does not believe it is an organization that is impartial or independent.
Independence stressed
"I believe an independent organization gathering experts from around the world, rather than the IAEA, should investigate and monitor the discharge. It is necessary to have them assess the safety," said the plaintiff, who was born in Iwaki.
Shuhei Matsushiro, director of the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement, said releasing water that has touched melted nuclear material into the ocean is "unprecedented".
"TEPCO and the government claim that releasing tritium-contaminated water is safe, but it's not just tritium. If debris is touched, nearly 200 nuclear substances will dissolve into the water, which cannot be removed even by the Advanced Liquid Processing System," Matsushiro said.
On Monday, Hisataka Yamasaki, a co-representative of No Nukes Plaza Tokyo, attended a rally in Tokyo, marking the 13th anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, which triggered one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.
He urged TEPCO to stop dumping such water into the ocean. "Even if monitoring continues while we keep releasing the contaminated water, the spread of radiation won't stop, so it won't solve the problem."
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