The government wants to dump radioactive water into the oceans, but fishermen are opposed, and there are better alternatives.
FoE Japan conducted a survey to learn what people who make their living by fishing thought about how the government should handle contaminated water generated and stored at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant. We sent a questionnaire to 134 fisheries cooperatives operating in the six prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Chiba, and Tokyo, and received 42 responses.
90% of fisheries cooperatives that responded were opposed to the discharge of processed contaminated water into the ocean. One was in support, 38 opposed, and three responded“neither.”
When we asked for their opinions on ideas such as “storing the processed water in large tanks” and “disposal by mortar solidification,” more cooperatives were in favor of these options than those opposed.
Fisheries cooperatives from Tokyo responded with comments such as “Without reliable and safe measures (for the processed water) like land-based storage, we anticipate damage to reputation and actual damage,” and “it seems that only Fukushima Prefecture is being forced to bear the burden, so [the government should] hear the opinions of other organizations nationwide.”
Learn more: https://www.foejapan.org/en/energy/doc/200414.html (Japanese)