THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
June 23, 2023 at 16:24 JST
The Japan Fisheries Cooperative holds its general assembly meeting in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on June 22. (Yushin Adachi)
The fishery industry showed an “appreciation” for the government’s efforts but was still against the plan to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.
“Although we remain firmly opposed to discharging the water, we take seriously the government’s efforts so far to build trust with us,” the Japan Fisheries Cooperative said in a resolution adopted on June 22.
The “efforts” include a proposed package of 50 billion yen ($349 million) to protect the industry from possible damages caused by the water release plan.
The original wording of the resolution was slightly softened. It dropped the expression “absolutely against” the plan used in the previous three statements.
The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. have pledged they “will not dispose of the (treated water) without gaining the understanding of those concerned.”
Asked if the government and TEPCO are gaining the “understanding” of fishermen, Masanobu Sakamoto, who heads the cooperative, said, “We are by no means saying it’s OK to discharge the water.”
He stressed that the softer-worded resolution “doesn’t mean our stance on the issue has changed.”
Despite the concerns, the government plans to go ahead with the plan, which was deemed necessary because the nuclear plant is running out of space to store contaminated water that continues to accumulate at the site.
TEPCO is expected to finish the necessary construction work at the plant as early as late June, and the International Atomic Energy Agency will issue its final safety report on the project.
“We need to make clear that the government and TEPCO are pushing ahead with the plan despite our opposition,” Tetsu Nozaki, head of the Fukushima prefectural fisheries cooperative, said on June 22.
He had earlier told The Asahi Shimbun, “We will remain opposed to the plan even if they go ahead and start it because the fact that we’ve never given them the greenlight will be critical in holding them responsible for the plan and its consequences.”
(This article was written by Yushin Adachi, Takemichi Nishibori and Keitaro Fukuchi.)
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