STORY: Japanese citizens petition against ocean discharge of Fukushima nuclear-tainted wastewater
SHOOTING TIME: April 24, 2024
DATELINE: April 25, 2024
LENGTH: 0:01:16
LOCATION: Tokyo
CATEGORY: POLITICS/ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of over 180,000 signatures from local citizens
2. various of the petitioning campaign
3. SOUNDBITE (Japanese): MASASHI TANI, Secretary general of Japan Congress against A- and H-Bombs

STORYLINE:

Representatives from Japanese civic groups on Wednesday submitted over 180,000 signatures from local citizens to the Japanese government, urging both the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to immediately halt the ocean discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Hajime Matsukubo, secretary general of the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, a Japanese non-profit organization, presented 184,712 citizen signatures to the representative from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry at the Second Members' Office Building of the House of Representatives in Tokyo.

The petitioning campaign, initiated earlier this year by civic groups including the Fukushima Prefecture Peace Forum under a project called Future's Ocean, or Mirainoumi in Japanese, has gained momentum.

"The nuclear-contaminated wastewater contains radioactive substances that cannot be removed, and the environmental impact of continued discharge into the ocean will persist for decades," Masashi Tani, secretary general of the Japan Congress against A- and H-Bombs, told a press conference on Wednesday.

SOUNDBITE (Japanese): MASASHI TANI, Secretary general of Japan Congress against A- and H-Bombs
"No other nuclear power plant that has experienced accidents has discharged water into the ocean to date. The long-term risks associated with such actions remain unknown. Land-based storage should be prioritized over ocean discharge. Today's signature submission marks the beginning of the ongoing campaign until an end to the discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water."

Despite furious opposition both at home and abroad, the ocean discharge of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water began in August 2023, and a total of about 31,200 tonnes of the water was released in four rounds in fiscal year 2023 through March.

The release of the fifth batch of water began last Friday and is expected to continue until May 7, with approximately 7,800 tonnes of the nuclear-contaminated water set to be discharged.

On Wednesday, the discharge was suspended at the plant due to a power outage at around 10:43 a.m. local time.

Amid raging credibility and safety concerns among the Japanese public following a series of accidents at the crippled plant, TEPCO and the Japanese government have been frequently challenged for the ocean discharge as the decommissioning process remains ambiguous.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Tokyo.
(XHTV)