Words not enough to cool Pacific over Fukushima nuclear dump

Prime Minister of Japan eating Fukushima - Getty Images

Peter Verschaffelt Words not enough to cool Pacific over Fukushima nuclear dump

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As Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and three of his ministers sit down to eat fish caught off the Fukushima coast, Green Party Pacific spokesperson Teanau Tuiono says the Japanese fail to understand why Pacific Island nations object to the dumping of the water used to cool nuclear reactors damaged in a 2011 tsunami.

A review by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the IEAI, says the discharge of treated water is consistent with relevant international safety standards and will have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.

But Mr Tuiono says that ignores the historical context of nuclear testing in the Pacific.

“There was Mururoa, there was Bikini Atoll – the amount of time they said ‘this is fine, it’s all good’,’ and they went ahead and tested nukes anyway. (Japan) hasn’t engaged enough with civil society and with people’s movements across the Pacific,” he says.

Mr Tuiono says New Zealand needs to keep pushing for nuclear free and independent Pacific.

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