Japan Press Weekly

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2012 April 11 - 17 [US FORCES]

Yokosuka citizens protest against transport of radioactive wastes from US warship

Amid strong protest from peace groups in Yokosuka City, the U.S. Navy on April 10 removed low-level radioactive wastes from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington.

This was the fourth time that the Navy unloaded the radioactive wastes produced during the GW’s regular maintenance. A Navy chartered-freighter will transport the wastes to Washington in the U.S.

The regular maintenance has been conducted between January and May every year since the U.S. military deployed the carrier at the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture in September 2008.

The protesters pointed out that the removal violates the Japan-U.S. agreement to refrain from removing radiation-contaminated materials from U.S. nuclear-powered ships while in Japanese ports.

Later on the same day, the Japanese Communist Party together with Yokosuka citizens’ groups held a street action in front of a railway station near the Yokosuka base.

JCP member of the Yokosuka City Assembly Negishi Kazuko criticized City Mayor Yoshida Yuto for ignoring a JCP request to lodge a protest with the U.S. regarding the transfer of radioactive materials.

Citing a governmental research institute’s recent seismic hazard map showing an increased possibility of a major quake hitting the Miura Peninsula where the base is located, Negishi said, “Let’s get the George Washington out of our city in order to live in a peaceful and safe Yokosuka.”