Open Letter to the G7 Ministers on Climate, Energy and Environment
concerning over misleading reference to the forthcoming Communiqué
Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCNE), Japan.
28 March 2023
CCNE, an independent, non-profit think-tank that has been investigating thedamages caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident, is sending this letter because wehave an urgent matter to address to your government. We have learned from media
reports 1 that the Japanese Government is coordinating with other G7 countries toinclude in the Communiqué of the G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Climate, Energy andEnvironment in Sapporo, April 2023, a statement that "welcomes the transparent
process toward the release" of “treated water” from the Tokyo Electric Power Company(TEPCO)'s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and also "welcomes the progress" ofthe plan to utilize soil removed by clean-up works in the areas contaminated by thenuclear accident. We firmly request the honorable ministers to refrain from making any
such endorsement for the reasons stated below.
In Japan, citizens including those working for agricultural and fisheries industries
in Fukushima, have been critical of the release of “treated water” and utilization ofremoved soil because both of them still contain residual radionuclides. However, theJapanese Government’s decision-making process has been quite undemocratic andunilateral, without interactive discussion nor sufficient disclosure or explanation, bothto the Japanese public and to the affected neighboring countries and their citizens.
Japanese civil society including CCNE has repeatedly pointed out many unresolved
problems with the discharge of “treated” contaminated water and the utilization ofremoved soil and has actively proposed viable alternatives to store contaminated waterand soil without dispersing them (you can find CCNE’s related statements in English
here 2 ). The Japanese Government has failed to address these concerns and has notseriously taken the proposed alternatives into consideration. It must be stressed that
there has been very little transparency in the decision-making process, and it is hard tofind any reason for the G7 countries to endorse the progress which lacks democratic
legitimacy.
Japan seeks G7 endorsement on discharge of Fukushima treated water - The Mainichi
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230222/p2g/00m/0na/030000c
2 Releasing Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Tritium to the Ocean– Getting theIssues Straight http://www.ccnejapan.com/20180828_CCNE_eng2.pdf
1The current plan by the Japanese Government is to continue releasing tritium for
more than 30 years at 10 times the amount that was released prior to the Fukushima
accident. The Japanese Government and TEPCO are responsible for the massive amountof radioactive release into the environment and the continuing spill since 2011. It would
be unacceptable if the polluter re-contaminate the ocean, which is a pricelesstransnational environmental asset, by additional and intentional discharge of theradioactive materials without pursuing alternative measures to keep them in storage.
Moreover, the standard for radioactive waste in Japan was loosened 80 times after theaccident. Since this relaxed regulation has also been adopted for the utilization ofremoved soil, many citizens are concerned about the spread of contamination throughthe promoted “reuse” of the soil.
The Japanese Government is trying to justify these measures on the basis ofapproval and support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and otherinternational organizations. This does not respond to the above concerns and cannot
justify the disregard for domestic democratic decision-making procedures.
For the reasons stated above, CCNE expresses its grave concern over any
misleading reference to these controversial matters in the forthcoming Communiqué ofthe G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting. We sincerely request yourGovernment to consider the concerns of the Japanese civil society and to refrain fromendorsing the proposed handlings of radioactive waste of Fukushima by the JapaneseGovernment which is still under public and parliamentary debate.

● Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCNE, eng.ccnejapan.com) is an independent research andadvocacy body, established after the Fukushima disaster in order to draw out a comprehensive, ethical andviable policy to achieve nuclear power phaseout and solve related issues in Japan. The Commission isadministered by the Takagi Fund for Citizen Science, Tokyo (an authorized charity corporation). CCNE
currently consists of a board of 7 commissioners, three Working Groups (commissioners plus additionalmembers), an advisory panel of experts and a secretariat. It has more than 80 members with a wide rangeof expertise such as social sciences, ethics, law, technologies (including nuclear engineering), environmental
and medical sciences; the members also include a number of residents directly affected by the Fukushima
nuclear accident 2011 and on.