The discharge of contaminated water from TEPCO's Fukushima nuclear power plant
into the ocean is an irreversible mistake!
Two years ago, under the Suga administration, the Cabinet decided to discharge into the ocean more than 1.25
million tons of ALPS process water produced by the dissolved nuclear fuel debris at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant. Finally, on August 24, under the Kishida administration, the contaminated water was discharged
into the ocean.
We protest against this and demand that this outrage be stopped immediately.
The government explains that the tritium concentration in the treated water will be diluted with seawater anddischarged into the Pacific Ocean for 30 to 40 years, but even if the water is treated by ALPS, it is not ordinary nuclear
power plant discharge, but contaminated water from a nuclear power plant accident, and the types and amounts ofradioactive nuclear species that will be released without treatment are too great to allow release at any degree ofdilution. ALPS is not a facility that will remove all radioactive nuclides other than tritium. The government is not sincerein giving that impression. In fact, that was made clear in August 2018. The government calls it "treated water" but it
is "contaminated water." The release of ALPS treated water at Fukushima represents a destructive act tantamountto a nuclear attack on the earth and life. In fact, we cannot help but wonder if the government is concerned that byrefusing to release the tritium contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi into the ocean, it will affect the Rokkasho
Reprocessing Plant in Aomori Prefecture, which will need to release far more contaminated water into the ocean thanFukushima.
In addition, the government's explanation that tritium is discharged without accumulating in the human body for along time is deeply questionable with regard to the effects of tritium on the human body and the environment. Dr.
Masamichi Nishio, Director Emeritus of the Hokkaido Cancer Center, who researches internal body radiation
exposure, has warned that the dangers of tritium are still not fully understood and that tritium that is converted to"organically bound tritium" in the human body can cause extremely serious internal exposure to radiation. In acomprehensive report on July 4 of this year, IAEA Director General Grossi reported that the ocean discharge of theALPS processed water from the TEPCO's Fukushima nuclear power plant "meets international safety standards ...
and has negligible radiation effects on the environment," which is a total deception and completely lacking in scientificbasis. Incidentally, the IAEA is a proponent of nuclear energy that does not even recognize the health effects ofwastewater emitted from reprocessing plants in England and France. Even there, they do not say there are zeroeffects. Just as the bioaccumulation of radioactivity has progressed in fish and shellfish around the reprocessing
plants in the UK and France, the government's actions will contaminate the entire ecosystem of the sea areasurrounding Fukushima over many years.
Japan, despite being the only country in the world to have experienced atomic bombings, and despite the fact thatthe nuclear "safety myth," created under the guise of "peaceful use of nuclear energy," was completely destroyed by
the TEPCO Fukushima nuclear accident 12 years ago, is now about to commit a terrible crime before humanity,
without learning any lessons from that history. The government's actions that catastrophically destroy life and natural
ecosystems on this planet, while protecting the vested interest structures of nuclear power generation with deceptive
explanations, will surely cause irreversible consequences.
We must decide with courage and wisdom to once again regain our reverence and compassion for life and nature,
to free ourselves from our enslavement to a greedy civilization that continues its ruinous destruction of life and theglobal environment, and to return to a path of solemnly bearing responsibility for the sustainable preservation of thecreation entrusted to our care. We are the only ones who can do this.
We staunchly protest and oppose the government's discharge of radioactive water into the ocean, which istantamount to a nuclear attack on our planet and our lives.
August 25, 2023
Rev. Dr. KIM Sungjae, General Secretary
Rev. NAITO Shingo, Chair, Peace and Nuclear Issues Committee