2010 April 14 - 20 [
US FORCES]
U.S. Navy carries N-wastes out of the George Washington
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April 17, 2010
The U.S. Navy on April 16 removed radioactive wastes from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington which is homeported at Yokosuka Naval Base. Maintenance work on the nuclear reactor has been conducted since January.
This constitutes a breach of a Japan-U.S. agreement. The Aide-Memoire of August 17, 1964 states that “no material exposed to radioactivity is normally removed while in foreign ports.”
A civic organization observing movements confirmed that four containers thought to include radioactive materials were transferred from the aircraft carrier to a freighter.
Lawyer Goto Masahiko, a leader of a citizens' campaign against the use of Yokosuka Port as the homeport for a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, said, “It’s a breach of the aide-memoire, the agreement between Japan and the U.S. The identity of contents in the containers has not been made public, and there is no procedure available for the Japanese government to investigate. There is a possibility that the dangerous primary coolant water was also included in the transfer.”
Japanese and U.S. governments resort to deceptions
The Japanese and the U.S. governments have now come up with a new explanation for the transfer of radioactive wastes from the USS George Washington.
Their intent is clearly shown in a document titled, “Explanation by the United States Government regarding transfers of solid waste exposed to radioactivity in Yokosuka for maintenance performed onboard USS GEORGE WASHINGTON”, published on April 10, 2010.
Referring to the U.S. government’s commitments in the Aide-Memoire of 1964 and other statements by the U.S. government, this “Explanation” states that transfers of radioactive wastes from the USS George Washington “are in keeping with those USG commitments.”
Akahata on April 17, however, points out that there are two deceptions used in the “Explanation” to justify the removal of nuclear wastes from the USS George Washington to a freighter.
First, the Aide-Memoire of 1964 says, “Solid wastes are transferred by SSN’s to U.S. shore or tender facilities for subsequent packaging and burial in the U.S.” A literal interpretation of this sentence is that radioactive wastes are carried to the United States in the warships themselves.
However, the “Explanation” of April 10 says, “The Aide-Memoire of 1964 states that solid wastes are transferred to U.S. shore or tender facilities for packaging and burial in the U.S.” Here, the words “by SSN’s” are intentionally omitted to indicate that the transfer of nuclear wastes from the USS George Washington to a cargo ship is in accord with the Aide-Memoire of 1964.
The second deception concerns the following statement of the Aide-Memoire of 1964: “No material exposed to radioactivity is normally removed from SSN’s while in foreign ports.” This should be interpreted that while the USS George Washington is anchored in Yokosuka, no radioactive wastes can be removed from it.
The “Explanation”, however, claims that “[t]he phrase ‘removed’ in the Aide-Memoire of 1964 is understood as removed to Japanese shore.”
In addition, in relation to the description in the 1964 Aide-Memoire that “[i]t is not contemplated that SSN fuel would be changed or that power-plant repairs would be undertaken in Japan or its territorial waters”, the “Explanation” uses subtle tricks of changes in wording by replacing “power-plant” with “propulsion plant”, and “repair” with “maintenance”.
The Aide-Memoire of 1964 was the agreement on port-calls by nuclear-powered submarines, not on the permanent stationing of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. So long as the Japanese and the U.S. governments use the Aide-Memoire of 1964 as the document dealing with the “safety” issues of nuclear-powered warships, both countries must be held responsible for literally observing the aide-memoire.
- Akahata, April 17, 2010
