LOCAL businesses in Fukushima are worried about the possible effects of the country’s plan to release contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Takashi Nakajima runs a food supermarket in Soma City, located about 40 kilometers north of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
He fears that the plan to release treated radioactive water into the sea would affect his business that he inherited from his father and has been in operation for more than 4 decades.
“After the earthquake 12 years ago, I wondered if it was really safe to eat fish from Fukushima and if the fish I sold was safe enough for the children to eat, and maybe I was indirectly killing people. Although the fish passed safety tests, local people still did not want to eat fish from Fukushima, which could hardly be sold. During those five years, I felt very painful when I sold fish caught in Fukushima, and I even lost the confidence to continue my business.”
“If the nuclear-contaminated wastewater is discharged into the sea, fish from Fukushima will become unmarketable again as people will not eat them. The Japanese government said that the discharged wastewater is so-called ‘treated water’, not ‘polluted water’. That’s just playing with words. They said they will dilute the wastewater before discharging it into the sea, which is supported by no verifications at all. The Japanese government took a hard line in telling its citizens that the discharge plan is safe, but that will not stop the Japanese people from feeling anxious,” Takashi Nakajima, supermarket owner said.
The discharge plan is said to ruin their individual businesses that’s why the association of local fishermen expressed their opposition on the matter.
“The Japanese government is completely ignoring the will of citizens by planning to discharge nuclear-contaminated wastewater. That will bring more difficulties to our businesses, and consumers will have tremendous psychological pressure when buying seafood. Therefore, the local fishery association in Fukushima strongly opposes this plan,” Nakajima said.
To recall the meltdown of the 3 core reactors Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was caused by a strong earthquake that hit Japan in 2011.
A total of 1 million tons of nuclear-contaminated wastewater have been stored in the plant including water used to cool down the reactor, the groundwater as well as rainwater, this number continues to increase.
Despite great opposition, Japan proceeded with its decision to filter and move the nuclear-contaminated water last April 2021 and release it to the sea this year, the process is expected to take up to 20 to 30 years before completely clearing the power plant.
