Xinhua News Agency, Fukushima, Japan, June 21 Newsletter: Draining nuclear-contaminated water into the sea is a crime against all living things on earth—Japanese people rally against the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea
Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Dan Li Guangzheng Zhang Xiaoyu
“Mountains and rivers will never return to the past, and radiation will not disappear easily. But compared with life and love, this country puts money in the first place!” At noon on the 20th, nearly 100 people including Tatsuko Okawamoto from Tamura City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan People came to the Fukushima prefectural office to express their strong opposition to the government’s discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. With a loudspeaker, she loudly narrated a line from her own puppet show to the staff of the Fukushima prefectural office who were taking a lunch break, exposing the inside story of the Japanese government’s eagerness to drain nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.
On the 12th, Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company began trial operation of the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water drainage equipment. On the 26th, the trial operation will end, and the discharge of nuclear contaminated water led by the Japanese government seems to have entered the countdown.
People from Fukushima and all over Japan who strongly oppose the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water gathered in Fukushima on the 20th to express their firm opposition to Fukushima’s nuclear-contaminated water to the Fukushima prefectural government through the “Fukushima Action” of parades, rallies and petitions Stand by the sea.
On June 20, people participated in a protest against the discharge of nuclear contaminated water in Fukushima City, Japan. (Photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu)
Oda Chiyo, one of the planners of this event and the co-representative of the civic group “Don’t Pollute the Sea”, told reporters: “The government says every day that the trial operation will end soon, making everyone feel that the discharge of the sea is an established fact, and wants us to give up. But it is wrong to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea, and there is still a place to store sewage tanks, so it has not reached the point where it must be discharged.”
“These water storage tanks that store nuclear-contaminated water can be stored for a long time as long as they want to store them. But the government and Tepco have chosen the most cost-effective way to deal with them-discharging sewage into the sea.” During the protest, people rushed from Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. Masuko Eiichi, who came to the rally, also strongly opposed the Japanese government’s discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea in his speech.
Regarding the government calling the diluted nuclear contaminated water “treated water”, Sakurai from Niigata said angrily: “The government calls the nuclear contaminated water ‘treated water’ to confuse the public. This is a fraud.” Masuko explained However, if the nuclear contaminated water is diluted, the total amount of nuclear pollutants discharged remains unchanged. This is something that even elementary school students understand! “Moreover, there are not only the radioactive element tritium in the nuclear-contaminated water, but also 57 kinds of radioactive substances such as cesium and strontium that cannot be removed.”
On June 20, people participated in a protest against the discharge of nuclear contaminated water in Fukushima City, Japan. (Photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu)
“Resolutely oppose the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea!” “No matter how many times the nuclear-contaminated water is diluted, it is still sewage!” He held up big banners to express his strong opposition to the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.
In the petition to be submitted to the Fukushima prefectural government, the Japanese people wrote more appeals and concerns: “In the absence of quantitative determination of all radioactive substances in the nuclear-contaminated water, it will be discharged into the sea. As a result, a large amount of radioactive substances spread to the entire Pacific Ocean through the coastal waters of Fukushima, thereby polluting the global marine environment…”
Under the scorching sun, Daheyuan’s speech continued: “Nuclear contaminated water cannot be discharged into the sea. This is a crime, a crime against all living things on earth!”
Editor: Zheng Jianlong