On the northeast coast of Japan, most fishermen are silent. But Haruo Ono, 71, prefers to say all the bad things he thinks about the “madness” of dumping water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.
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“There is nothing beneficial for us” in this project and “the fishermen are 100% against it,” told AFP Mr. Ono, who lives in Shinchimachi, a small port about sixty kilometers north of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
The Japanese government on Thursday decided to start discharging into the Pacific Ocean water that has accumulated for years in this place devastated by the deadly tsunami of March 11, 2011, which was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 caused.
This water has been treated to remove most of its radioactive elements. However, tritium, a radionuclide that is only dangerous to humans in very high concentrations, could not be eliminated.
Japan also plans to dilute this water and discharge it very gradually by the early 2050s to avoid any impact on the environment and human health. A plan adopted in 2021 and validated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month.
“The IAEA says the release is safe etc. But here we depend on the sea and the fish, we love the sea, we protect it, it’s our job,” stresses Mr Ono.
“So from whom do you think you have permission to divert the water? It shouldn’t be the Prime Minister or the Presidents. “I’m committed to stopping this madness of our government,” says the outraged fisherman.
“The government is in the process of giving up Fukushima, although it should protect the people here, the fishermen, and not Tepco,” the operator of the destroyed power plant, Mr Ono, still regrets.
An already stigmatized department
His younger brother was killed in the 2011 tsunami caused by a massive magnitude 9.0 underwater earthquake off northeast Japan that left an estimated 20,000 dead and missing.
The resulting nuclear accident in Fukushima has for years led to a stigmatization of the department’s residents, but also of its agricultural and seafood products.
The local fishing industry has long been crushed by bans or restrictions on the sale of radiation risk precautions both in Japan and abroad.
As they have only just begun to raise their heads, local fishermen fear their activity may decline due to the image damage associated with the Fukushima water discharge.
After 2011, “Fukushima was considered a place to avoid. Even license plates stating their department were removed by the evacuees,” recalled Tomomi Kodama, 40, a local artist who visited the coast.
“The people of Fukushima have already suffered a lot. Now that the water is being evacuated from the plant, I wonder how the world will accept it,” she told AFP.
Contrary to this project, China, which was the destination country for 25% of Japanese seafood exports in 2022, decided in July to ban the import of all food from ten Japanese departments, including that of Fukushima, and to implement strict controls for from the Rest of the country imported food.
Haruo Ono says he hopes to live to be 100, or another three decades, by the time the Fukushima power plant is currently scheduled to be decommissioned and its tritiated water discharged into the sea. “To make sure that we don’t leave any problems for our children and grandchildren,” justifies the father of three sons – all fishermen like himself.