A lawsuit will be filed this week by about 100 fishermen and residents of the Fukushima area to prohibit the discharge of effluent from the damaged Japanese nuclear facility, they announced on Monday.
Japan started discharging treated cooling water from the facility into the Pacific Ocean on August 24, 2012, twelve years after one of the worst nuclear catastrophes in history.
Because they believe it will undermine years of attempts to rehabilitate the industry’s reputation in the wake of the 2011 calamity, many Japanese fisherman have opposed the release.
Sugie Tanji, a member of the group’s secretariat, told AFP that the case will be filed in the Fukushima District Court on Friday by more than 100 plaintiffs, including fisherman from Fukushima and neighboring prefectures.
“The government failed to keep to its promise of gaining agreement from fishermen before taking such a decision to release,” she said.
“This is a wrong policy as it ignores strong opposition from not only the Fukushima fishermen’s cooperative but also from cooperatives across the country,” the group said in a statement.
“The release to the ocean can never be tolerated as it brings about further suffering to victims of the nuclear accident,” it added.
China has reacted angrily to the release by banning the import of all Japanese seafood.
Officials from the Japanese government have made an effort to persuade the populace that the action has minimal bearing on health or safety issues.
Among others, US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida consumed Fukushima fish in front of the cameras last week.
Japan has emphasized again and over again that the effluent is processed and safe, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supports this claim.
In total, plant operator TEPCO plans to release around 540 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water over the next several decades.
