Japan Press Weekly

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2013 November 20 - 26 TOP3 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

JCP holds symposium on Fukushima radioactive water issue

The Japanese Communist Party on November 21 at the Diet building held a symposium on the issue of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant with 170 people in attendance, including fishermen and anti-nuke activists.

JCP Chair Shii Kazuo delivered an opening address. He pointed out that in order to settle the contaminated water issue, the need now is to gather knowledge and wisdom from all fields, such as the scientific, engineering, and industrial worlds. The JCP organized this symposium with this aim in mind, he added.

Six experts in engineering, earth science, sociology, economics and other areas talked as panelists.

Funabashi Harutoshi, one of the panelists and professor at Hosei University Faculty of Social Science, said that behind the radioactive water issue lies the situation where TEPCO implements measures favorable to itself. He proposed that the government establish a powerful organization which supervises and monitors the utility.

Oshima Kenichi, who teaches environmental economics at Ritsumeikan University, pointed out that TEPCO is trying to pass the cost of handling the accident onto the general public by increasing electric rates while TEPCO shareholders and financial institutions share no accident burdens. Spending a large amount of taxpayers’ money on TEPCO will lead to moral hazard, he stressed.

Shii in his closing speech said that JCP, along with other parties, will work to create a forum in the Diet to collect the knowledge and wisdom of independent experts to tackle the various issues.