Their complaint will be filed Friday at the Fukushima Magistrate’s Court, Sugie Tanji, a member of the collective behind the action, told AFP on Monday.
The government’s choice is “a bad policy because it overrides the opposition not only of the Fukushima fishermen’s cooperative, but also of cooperatives throughout the country”she said.
“Discharge into the ocean can never be tolerated because it aggravates the suffering of the victims of the nuclear accident” of Fukushima in 2011 following a giant tsunami, added Ms. Tanji.
Many Japanese fishermen feared the consequences of the discharge into the Pacific Ocean of water from Fukushima, from rainwater, groundwater and injections needed to cool its badly damaged reactors in 2011.
Their fears have already been verified: as soon as the rejection began at the end of August, China and Hong Kong suspended all their imports of Japanese seafood products, while these two markets together accounted for 42% of exports from the Japanese sector in 2022.
Tokyo has asked China to lift these trade restrictions, arguing that the disposal at sea has been validated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that guarantees have been taken that the process is safe for the world. environment and human health.
Enhanced aid for fishermen
Fukushima water has been previously decontaminated of most of its radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, which is only harmful in high concentrated doses according to experts.
This tritiated water is then diluted with seawater before being discharged into the ocean, so that its level of radioactivity does not exceed the target ceiling of 1,500 becquerels/litre: a level 40 times lower than the Japanese standard. for this type of operation, which is otherwise commonly practiced by the nuclear industry throughout the world.
In total, Japan intends to evacuate more than 1.3 million m3 of tritiated water from Fukushima to the sea, and this in an extremely gradual way – until the beginning of the 2050s, according to the current schedule.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Monday evening an increase in public aid planned to support Japanese fishermen in the crisis.
The total of this aid will increase to more than 100 billion yen (630 million euros) once morest 80 billion yen previously. This effort reflects “the determination” from the government to “protect” fishing industry, said Mr. Kishida.
Deals “are rather difficult” right now, Yoshinobu Yoshihashi, a seafood wholesaler in Tokyo, told AFP this weekend.
Its shipments to other Asian countries of products including oysters, sea urchins and beryx long have falled “by more than half” since the beginning of the crisishe added.
