Fresh rebuke for Japan on reactor plan

With nuclear agency backing release of toxic water, China pans decision

China voiced its strong opposition on Friday to an "extremely irresponsible" decision by Japan to proceed with the ocean disposal of radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, a plan that was endorsed that day by the country's nuclear regulator.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry urged Tokyo to refrain from wantonly discharging the contaminated water before reaching a consensus with all stakeholders and relevant international institutions through full consultations.

Earlier on Friday, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority approved the government's plan, announced in April last year, to release the contaminated water from the nuclear complex despite stiff resistance to the move at home and abroad.

Japanese authorities said the plan has already been adopted by the government and endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but the operator of the plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, must still win over local communities before going ahead with the discharge.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, at a regular news briefing on Friday, urged Japan not to put its self-interest above the interests of the international community, saying the decision marks "a dangerous step".

China strongly opposes Japan's extremely irresponsible practice of disregarding the concerns of all parties and its attempt to create an established fact, Wang said.

Many questions have been raised about the legitimacy of the discharge plan, the reliability of Japanese data that supposedly supports the decision, the effectiveness of the treated equipment, and the uncertain impact on the environment, Wang said.

Regrettably, he said Japan has always turned a deaf ear to the legitimate concerns and reasonable demands of the international community and the Japanese people.

"China once again urges Japan to fulfill its due international obligations and dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a scientific, open, transparent and safe manner," Wang said.

Zhang Jifeng, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the decision is "extremely irresponsible and totally wrong".

"It's such a selfish decision that Tokyo does not even bother to think for a minute about the interests of the people of neighboring counties. Japan also turns a blind eye to international public health concerns," said Zhang.

The scholar questioned whether the contaminated water is as "safe" as Japan has claimed.

The water is used to cool the plant's reactors in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster triggered by an earthquake and tsunami.

Under the plan, Japan will gradually discharge the still-contaminated water from the spring of 2023. To do so, it will build a pipeline from the tanks to a coastal facility, where the water will be diluted with seawater. The water will then be sent via an undersea tunnel to a point about 1 kilometer from the plant.

Safety questioned

Local fisheries, residents and environmental groups have long questioned the safety of the plan. Scientists say the resulting long-term impact is unknown, and that tritium, a carcinogen that was left in the water, can have a bigger impact on humans when consumed in fish than from its presence in the water itself.

Before Friday's decision, Japan's National Federation of Fishermen's Associations had released a third resolution reaffirming its "firm opposition to the ocean discharge of water contaminated from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant".

Masanobu Sakamoto, who became the chairman of the group in March and chairman of Japan's Chiba Prefectural Fisheries Federation, said: "We will remain opposed to the proposal."

In a debate in the National Diet, Makiko Kishi, a member of Japan's upper house from the Constitutional Democratic Party, said:"Many people, including locals, are opposed to the release. Nevertheless, the government and TEPCO have continued with the plan. It is not permissible to force through the release without necessary research and understanding."

Zhang said that Tokyo's plan is "the worst way to deal with nuclear-contaminated water" and will set a bad example for other countries to follow.

Wang Xu in Tokyo contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhaoruinan@chinadaily.com.cn.