Urgent Statement Regarding G7 Summit
Heads of G7 countries must face and learn from the tragedy and suffering of people caused by the Fukushima nuclear crisis
Today, the “G7 Ise-Shima Leaders’ Declaration” was announced. The declaration states, “We welcome the steady progress on decommissioning and treatment of contaminated water at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, and Japan’s effort to proceed in an open and transparent manner in close communication with the international community, towards developing accurate global understanding of the situation in Fukushima…it[nuclear power] substantially contributes to the reduction of future GHG emissions and works as a base load energy source.”
However, the declaration does not mention the irreversible damages, loss of beautiful hometowns, and broken communities caused by the nuclear crisis; additionally, the declaration also ignores the reality that the nuclear crisis is still going on.
The nuclear crisis is far from over. Many workers work onsite while being exposed to radiation. Despite efforts, massive amounts of radioactive waste-water is still leaking. There are not enough tanks to keep up with the work that needs to be done. Implementation of the “Frozen ground wall” as a solution for the leaking contaminated water was decided on at the closed meeting by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Investment. The wall does not seem to work to prevent the leakage of contaminated water. While the Nuclear Regulatory Committee is supposed to regulate these policies, they are pushing for these policies instead.
After the nuclear crisis, at least 100,000 people fled from Fukushima and now spend their lives far from their hometowns. Most of them decided not to return or cannot decide whether they want to go back. However, the government is going to lift the regulation on the no-go zone by next March and decrease housing assistance for voluntary evacuees. This means the government wants to minimize the number of ‘evacuees’ and use it as a pretext to reconstruction from the disaster. According to data collected by the Fukushima Prefectural Health Checks, 166 children are diagnosed with pediatric thyroid cancer.
World leaders must see this reality: the reality that people are still suffering greatly from the nuclear crisis. Learning from the Fukushima nuclear crisis, they must facilitate the shift to renewable energy and an energy efficient society. Currently, we are still living in a materialistic society, which requires massive amounts of energy consumption; therefore, world leaders must also make efforts to move away from this type of society and shift toward an environmentally sustainable society.
