September 9, 2023

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Iwabuchi Tomo on September 8 at a meeting jointly held by the House Economy and Agriculture committees said that the government should immediately stop the ocean release of Fukushima wastewater and instead make serious efforts to implement measures to drastically prevent the volume of contaminated water from increasing. She also said that the government should choose better ways to safely dispose of the water instead of the ocean discharge.

At the meeting which took place during the Diet recess, Iwabuchi stressed that even if the water contaminated by contact with melted-down nuclear fuel debris is treated with the ALPS, radioactive materials other than tritium cannot be removed. She pointed out that about 70% of the water currently stored in storage tanks contain radioactive substances with concentration levels beyond the government-set effluent standards. She continued to point out that every day, about 90 tons of contaminated water is generated.

Iwabuchi cited that experts and civil society groups have proposed measures, including installing water shielding walls, to prevent a rise in contaminated water and proposed an alternative to the ocean release in which Fukushima water is solidified into mortar for a long-term storage. The JCP lawmaker demanded that the government take these proposals seriously.

On this day at a similar meeting of House of Representatives committees, JCP representative Takahashi Chizuko urged the government to stop releasing Fukushima water into the ocean without delay and explore safe ways to store the water.

> Shii: Stop Releasing Contaminated Water into the Sea [August 23, 2023]