On Sunday, while visiting the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for the first time since taking office, Japan’s new Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida said the planned mass disposal of wastewater stored at the tsunami-wrecked nuclear plant cannot be delayed, despite concerns from local residents.
According to the Kyodo News, Kishida spoke with executives of the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., saying that decommissioning is a “prerequisite for reconstruction” of Japan’s northeastern region, devastated by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear crisis in 2011.
Kishida visited several places in Fukushima Prefecture, one day after he visited the country’s northeastern region for the first time since becoming prime minister and two days before official campaigning for the upcoming general election begins.
More than one million tonnes of water are being stored in 1,000 tanks at the site, after being pumped up from reactor basements and treated to remove all but tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.
“I felt strongly that the water issue is a crucial one that should not be pushed back,” Kishida told reporters after being shown around by the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power, reports Reuters.
Kishida said the government will do its utmost to address concerns the water disposal will hurt local fishing and other industries, reports the Associated Press. “We will provide an explanation about the safety (of the disposal) from a scientific viewpoint and transparency in order to dispel various concerns,” Kishida said.
The government and TEPCO announced plans in April to start releasing the water into the Pacific Ocean in the spring of 2023 over the span of decades. However, the plan has been fiercely opposed by fishermen, residents, and Japan’s neighbors, including China and South Korea.
Kishida has said that nuclear power must be part of Japan’s energy mix if it is to become carbon neutral by 2050. But he has yet to confirm if he will attend the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow early next month.
