“We must support Pacific peoples' fundamental right to their sovereignty and self-determination against Japan’s nuclear colonialism. Lowrey told GL that since was Australian uranium that fuelled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, “the Australian government has a responsibility to stand with local communities in Fukushima as well as communities in Japan, Korea, China and Pacific Island states in calling on the Japanese government not to dump radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean”. They knew about the corruption in Japan’s nuclear industry but kept supplying uranium.” The ANFA statement said that “Australian governments, and mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto, are partly responsible for the death and destruction resulting from the Fukushima disaster. The statement acknowledged that uranium from the Ranger and Olympic Dam mines was in TEPCO’s Fukushima reactors when the meltdowns, explosions and fires took place in March 2011. The Japanese government's plans to dump its nuclear wastewater into our Ocean pose a direct threat to the economic prosperity of our countries and in turn our developmental aspirations as well as being a fundamental breach of Pacific people's rights to a clean and healthy sustainable environment.”Īustralian anti-nuclear activist Nat Lowrey delivered a statement of solidarity from the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance when she visited affected local communities in Fukushima in March this year. “The Pacific Ocean also contains the largest tuna fish stocks which are a source of economic revenue for our countries. So it comes as a deep disappointment to us that the Japanese government would consider actions that threaten not only Pacific people and our Ocean but the health and well-being of all the planet’s oceans and the people who depend upon them. “Japan and the Pacific share the trauma of nuclear weapons and testing. “These nuclear legacies have cost us countless lives and continue to impact the health and well-being of our people it has impacted access to our fishing grounds and land to plant crops to support our families and it has cost us our homes, with Pacific people displaced (on Bikini and Enewetak) due to nuclear contamination. The Pacific was used as a nuclear test site by the UK, France and the USA who carried out a total of 315 tests on Christmas Island in Kiribati, Australia, Maohi Nui or French Polynesia and the Marshall Islands. “Pacific people know all too well the cost of nuclear testing and dumping. Our Ocean represents the economic, spiritual and cultural heart of Pacific countries. However, since the current administration (2022), the voice of protest has been extinguished at the government level, invariably raising suspicion of possible under the table dealings between Japan’s Kishida government and current Korean President Yoon during the latter’s recent visit to Japan.”Įpeli Lesuma, from the Fiji-based Pacific Network on Globalisation, told GL that “for Pacific people the Ocean represents more than just a vast blue expanse that Japan can just use as a dumpsite. “This was in conjunction with Korea’s progressive action groups during the term of the previous Moon Jae-In administration. “The local Korean fishery industry is the first commercial victim of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and it raised deep concerns to the Korean government immediately after the explosion of the nuclear reactors. In two to three years, it will eventually reach and contaminate all ocean waters to certain, yet significant degrees according to scientists. “The danger posed by the plan cannot be contained within just the North-East Asia region. All living organisms will be implicitly affected, whether it is the unwitting consumer of contaminated produce, or even beachgoers. “It will directly endanger the marine life with which it comes into contact, as well as devastate the livelihoods of those reliant on such marine life, such as fisherfolk. “There are serious, global ramifications,” he said. Fukushima: A continuing disaster 12 years on
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