Japan Press Weekly

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2017 March 8 - 14 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Don’t discard Fukushima victims for the sake of NPP restarts and exports: JCP Chair

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo, marking the 6th year since the Fukushima nuclear accident, expressed his firm determination to hamper the government from abandoning Fukushima disaster sufferers in the following statement published on March 10:

Nearly 80,000 Fukushima citizens still have to live away from their hometowns as evacuees. As disaster-related deaths have risen to 2,115, the situation still continues to be serious. Even investigations into the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Fukushima Daiichi NPP) have run into difficulties due to the unknown state of the melted fuel debris as well as the excessively high radiation levels at the crippled plant. A “frozen soil wall” to tackle the radiation-tainted water did not work despite the use of 35 billion yen in public funds. The Fukushima crisis has not been brought “under control” at all. It instead has been left without any effective resolution.

However, the Abe government is seeking to turn the Fukushima disaster into a “thing of the past” to promote its pro-nuclear energy policy in order to place currently offline nuclear reactors back online and export NPPs and related technology overseas. His regime is blatantly trying to “forget Fukushima”. The government unilaterally lifted the evacuation order and intends to discontinue paying compensation for emotional distress and business losses. It also plans to stop providing rent-free housing to voluntary evacuees. I would never allow politics imposing hardship anew upon the already-suffering victims in order to further go ahead with the obviously discredited nuclear energy policy.

Many evacuees wish to go home but cannot due to fears of high levels of radiation and insufficient decontamination work. Local hospitals, shops, and schools have not been recovered as well. To change this situation and alleviate their suffering are what the government should do now.

The government should not draw any limitations or exclude anyone or anything that will lead to the division of the evacuees. I strongly demand that the government and the Fukushima plant operator TEPCO offer support to the disaster victims until all of them can recover their normal lives and jobs. I also demand that the Abe government sincerely respond to the earnest hope of “All of Fukuhisma” to have the Fukushima Daini NPP in addition to the Fukushima Daiichi NPP decommissioned.

On behalf of the JCP, I express my strong determination to work even harder with concerned citizens to prevent the Abe government from forcing through the policy of restarting NPPs, exporting NPPs, and leaving the Fukushima issue unresolved, and call for the establishment of a “zero-NPP” Japan.