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DESCRIPTION:3/11 SF Action At SF Japan Consulate \nNo Dumping Radioactive Water Into 
 The Pacific\nNo Restarting Nukes In Japan, STOP Militarization & 
 War\n\nSaturday March 11, 2023 1PM\n\nJapanese Consulate\n275 Battery 
 St/California St.\nSan Francisco, CA\n\n3/11/23 is the 12th anniversary of 
 the Japan Fukushima tsunami and the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at 
 the TEPCO plant. TEPCO would have gone bankrupt without a state take-over 
 of the company. All Japanese governments since that disaster including Abe 
 and the present prime minister Kishida have claimed that the nuclear 
 catasptophe is no longer a danger and Fukushima has been 
 “decontaminated”. This is what former Moonie's supporter Abe told the 
 International Olympic committee.\nIn fact the opposite is the case. The 
 melted nuclear rods remain in the reactors 12 years after the disaster and 
 they still need to be cooled by water causing further contamination.\nThere 
 still is  407,000 tons of radioactive waste stored in Fukushima and 
 throughout Japan.\nNow the Kishida government is set  to release over 1.3 
 million tons of contaminated water with tritium into the Pacific Ocean. 
 This is opposed by the people of Japan and many countries in Asia.\nAt the 
 same time the LDP government is flagrantly violating Article 9 of the 
 Constitution which prevents offensive war by Japan. \nThe past Abe 
 government and now Kishida are expanding the Japanese military including 
 joining the US controlled imperialist NATO around the world. They now have 
 said they will open more nuclear plants in Japan and are supporting the US 
 expansion of bases in Okinawa and throughout Japan. The US NATO war in 
 Ukraine is also being used to massively expand Japanese war industries and 
 the full militarization of Japan.\nThis is at the same time that conditions 
 for the poor and working class people is declining.\n\nThe US and Japanese 
 people must stand agains opening more nuclear plants, dumping radioactive 
 water into the Pacific and for all US bases out of Japan.\n\nJoin No Nukes 
 Action & Speak Out \nNo Nukes Action 
 Committee\nhttp://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/\n\nTokyo, Saitama residents 
 say ‘no’ to living near Fukushima soil 
 \nhttps://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14848079\n\nBy RYO TAKEDA/ Staff 
 Writer\nFebruary 25, 2023 at 15:12 JST\n\n\nPhoto/Illutration\nThe flower 
 bed in Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden where decontaminated soil from 
 Fukushima Prefecture will be reused (Ryo 
 Takeda)\nPhoto/Illutration\nPhoto/Illutration\nResidents of Tokyo and 
 Saitama are up in arms at an Environment Ministry plan to reuse 
 decontaminated soil from Fukushima Prefecture in their midst, including a 
 major park in the capital's Shinjuku district. \n\nThey formally submitted 
 requests on Feb. 24 asking to suspend the plan to distribute the soil that 
 was formerly contaminated from radioactive fallout due to the 2011 triple 
 meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.\n\nThe plan, announced 
 in December, is aimed at reducing the volume that would go to the final 
 storage site. \n\nOne potential test site is Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden 
 in the heart of Tokyo.\n\nAt a meeting on Feb. 24 between about 50 local 
 residents and Environment Ministry officials, a request was submitted 
 asking to cancel the plan as well as holding explanatory meetings about the 
 project.\n\nAfter the meeting, one of the residents, Kunikazu Hirai, 70, 
 said, “We are angry at the danger of having soil that was once 
 contaminated with radiation brought right next door to us.”\n\nAccording 
 to Environment Ministry officials, there were about 1.2 million visitors to 
 Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in fiscal 2021, although annual visitors 
 numbered about 2 million prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe 
 two other candidate test sites are the National Institute for Environmental 
 Studies in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, and the National Environmental 
 Research and Training Institute in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture.\n\nAll 
 three sites are managed by the Environment Ministry and officials believe 
 that consent of local residents is not needed to proceed with their 
 plan.\n\nHowever, Saitama residents not only attended the Feb. 24 meeting 
 with Environment Ministry officials but also submitted their own request to 
 stop the project.\n\nThe unpopularity of the plan is understandable. A 
 proposal to reuse soil in two municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture went 
 nowhere after local residents raised strong opposition.\n\nOnly soil 
 decontaminated to levels below 8,000 becquerels per kilogram will be used 
 in the trial runs.\n\nThe plan for Tokyo calls for reusing the soil in a 
 flower bed in an area of Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden that would be 
 off-limits to the public. The flower bed would be 10 meters by 3 meters 
 with a hole dug 1 meter deep.\n\nA plastic sheet will be placed in the hole 
 before about six cubic meters of decontaminated soil covers it. A 
 50-centimeter layer of soil will be placed on top of the decontaminated 
 soil.\n\nThe water collected in the sheet will be moved to an adjacent tank 
 and measured for radiation levels. If the levels are under government 
 standards, the water would be released into the sewage system.\n\nThe 
 Environment Ministry held an explanatory meeting on Dec. 21, but only 28 
 people showed up, in large part, because notification of the scheduled 
 meeting was given at the last minute.\n\nShinjuku Mayor Kenichi Yoshizumi 
 said while the project was completely in the hands of the central 
 government, he expressed dissatisfaction at the explanation and documents 
 presented by the Environment Ministry, which he called “difficult to 
 understand.”\n\nTokorozawa residents raised objections at an explanatory 
 meeting held in their community in January, and Mayor Masato Fujimoto said 
 it would be difficult for the project to proceed if residents were 
 opposed.\n\nKenichi Oshima, a professor of environmental economics at 
 Ryukoku University in Kyoto, said the ministry likely wanted to conduct the 
 trial in Tokyo to attract more attention and gain understanding.\n\nBut he 
 added, “What has to be paid attention to is not to create a dispute 
 between various regions by having the central government pressuring 
 localities with comments such as, ‘Are you saying you will not cooperate 
 to help Fukushima Prefecture?’”\n\n\nThe Asahi Shimbun\n\nMilitarized 
 Japan and the Biden-Kishida Summit Signal Moment in the New Cold 
 War\nAcross the Indo-Pacific, as well as in the escalating Ukraine War, 
 humanity stands an accident or miscalculation away from the calamity of 
 nuclear 
 war.\nhttps://www.commondreams.org/opinion/militarized-japan-biden-kishida\nJOSEPH 
 GERSON\nJan 10, 2023\n\n"Japan in December adopted a set of three security 
 and defense strategy documents that break from its exclusively 
 self-defense-only stance. Under the new strategies, Japan vows to build up 
 its counterstrike capability with long-range cruise missiles that can reach 
 potential targets in China, double its defense budget within five years and 
 bolster development of advanced weapons." —Asahi Shimbun \n\n"U.S. 
 officials have welcomed Japan's willingness to take on more offensive role, 
 while experts say it could also help widen cooperation with Australia, 
 their main regional defense partner." —Asahi Shimbun\n\nJapan's Prime 
 Minister Fumio Kishida comes to Washington on Friday, January 13. Unlike 
 Japan, his summit with President Joe Biden will not garner much press 
 attention here in the United States, but it marks a signal moment in 
 Japan's rise in military power and in the implementation of the Biden 
 Administration's National Security Strategy. The Strategy, which 
 prioritizes Chinese and Russian challenges to the so-called "rules-based 
 order", a euphemism for U.S. primacy which is rife with contradictions, 
 prioritizes the centrality of alliances to U.S. global power, stating that 
 "our alliances and partnerships around the world are our most important 
 strategic asset."\n\nThe revitalized 70-year-old U.S.-Japan alliance has 
 renewed importance in enforcing U.S. defense of Taiwan and resisting the 
 expansion of Chinese influence across the South China/West Philippine Sea. 
 This Sea is the geopolitically critical expanse of ocean across which 40% 
 of world trade—including Middle East oil which fuels East Asian 
 economies—flows. Similarly, further integration of the Japanese and U.S. 
 economies and technological resources are encompassed by the alliance and 
 seen as essential to the power and wealth of both nations.\n\nPrime 
 Minister Kishida has stated that the summit will be a "very important" 
 opportunity to "demonstrate at home and abroad the further strengthening of 
 the Japan-U.S. alliance." The alliance is not a new development. In 1952 
 the Mutual Security Treaty (AMPO in Japanese) was secretly imposed on Japan 
 as a condition for ending the postwar military occupation. Since then, 
 contrary to Japan's "peace constitution," the island nation has served as 
 the center of the United States' hub and spokes Asia-Pacific alliance 
 structure. It reinforced the Cold War containment doctrine in Asia, and in 
 the 21st century it plays a critical role in containing and managing 
 China's rise and its challenge to U.S. regional hegemony.\n\nMisconceptions 
 About the Peace Constitution and the Growth of Japan's 
 Military\n\nMisconceptions about Japan's "Peace Constitution" abound. The 
 document's Article 9, which has been fervently defended by most Japanese, 
 states that "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right 
 of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling 
 international disputes." It goes on to commit that "land, sea, and air 
 forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right 
 of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."\n\nYet, in the 
 tradition of law being what those with power say it is, the Japanese Diet 
 (parliament) and courts have been "elastic" in their interpretation of 
 Article 9. Over recent decades, Japan's military spending has grown to $50 
 billion a year and is about to be doubled. Japan currently ranks as the 
 world's eighth greatest military spender, well behind China, but 
 significantly ahead of U.S. allies like Israel, Italy, Australia, and 
 Canada.\n\nIn addition to its major role in drafting Japan's postwar 
 constitution, U.S. occupation forces identified and empowered the country's 
 post-war ruling elite. In the 1930s and 40s Japan's elite was divided by 
 the "militarists" who aimed to win "the whole melon", completely destroying 
 and replacing U.S. and British Asia- Pacific colonial empires with their 
 own. The militarists were opposed by more sober-minded members of the elite 
 who understood the folly of the "militarists'" ambitions and sought to 
 expand the Japanese empire under the umbrella of U.S. and British imperial 
 power. It was this latter camp that the U.S. occupation brought to power. 
 Their descendants have ruled Japan almost continually since then via the 
 conservative Liberal Democratic Party. (The successes of the occupation of 
 Japan provided the model for the George W. Bush Administration's ambitions 
 in Iraq.)\n\nDuring the Korean War, to protect the rear flank of its 
 military bases across Japan, occupation forces led the Japanese government 
 to take its initial steps in what was to become its military, 
 euphemistically branded as the "Japan Self Defense Force" (SDF). In 1952, 
 what had been a minimal national police force was renamed the National 
 Safety Force and expanded to 110,000 personnel. Two years later the Safety 
 Force was rechristened the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, shattering 
 essential constitutional restraints. Over time the SDF would grow, as did 
 its capabilities and regional roles.\n\nUntil recent decades, the U.S. and 
 Japanese militaries operated with a division of labor. The SDF was 
 responsible for guarding Japan and the more than 100 U.S. military bases 
 and installations across the Japanese archipelago, including the massive 
 Yakota Base in the Japanese capital and the massive concentration of bases 
 in Okinawa which have transformed Japan into an "unsinkable aircraft 
 carrier" for the United States. Washington's "responsibility" has been to 
 ensure "peace" through the exercise of its regional hegemony. This has 
 included defense of Japan via "extended deterrence," Washington's nuclear 
 umbrella over Japan, which has also served as a check on the nuclear 
 ambitions of segments of the Japanese elite and military.\n\nGiven strong 
 Japanese pacifist commitments as a consequence of the country's disastrous 
 15-year war of aggression (beginning with the 1931 invasion of China, not 
 the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor), the military and the elite have pursued a 
 "salami strategy" by expanding the Japanese military and its roles one 
 slice at a time. Boiling frogs might be the better analogy. By 1989 the SDF 
 moved to increase its capacities for overseas military deployments under 
 cover of participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations from Cambodia and 
 East Timor to Haiti and South Sudan. Tokyo came under enormous pressure in 
 1991 when popular opposition prevented the SDF from joining the "coalition 
 of the willing" in the first Gulf War. But soon thereafter Chinese military 
 potential as manifested in the 1996 Taiwan crisis and growing fears of 
 North Korea's nuclear weapons program spurred greater Japanese military 
 commitments. A month after Chinese military forces bracketed waters around 
 Taiwan with demonstration missile strikes, and in the wake of Okinawan 
 protests that shook the U.S.-Japan alliance to its core, also in 1996 Prime 
 Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and President Bill Clinton signed the Japan-U.S. 
 Joint Declaration on Security Alliance for the 21st Century.\n\nFollowing 
 the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and the subsequent U.S. invasion of 
 Afghanistan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi invoked Japan's 
 "responsibilities as a member of the international community" as 
 necessitating Maritime Self Defense Force operations to provide logistical 
 support to U.S. forces in the form transporting supplies, especially oil, 
 across the Indian Ocean. And in 2003, this time under cover of a U.N. 
 resolution for Iraqi reconstruction, a small SDF force was dispatched to 
 Iraq with U.S. guarantees that they would not suffer casualties. \n\nWhile 
 it added nothing to the U.S.-led war, it was designed to whittle away at 
 popular Japanese resistance to sending SDF forces into war zones. In 2017, 
 Japan joined a revitalized QUAD alliance (U.S., Japan, Australia, and 
 India) and has since participated in joint naval operations with the U.S. 
 and partner nations in the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and Persian 
 Gulf, and over the past year it has signaled its willingness to join the 
 U.S. in battle in the event of a war for Taiwan. Today the Japanese 
 military is anything but inconsequential with more than 300,000 troops, an 
 Air Self Defense Force comprised primarily of advanced U.S. fighters, and a 
 Maritime Self Defense Force of 155 ships including destroyers and 
 helicopter carriers, some of which can double as aircraft carriers. Japan's 
 rockets can reach Beijing and Pyongyang as well as Mars. It has 
 intelligence satellites, and the Kishida government is in the process of 
 committing to develop precision conventional first-strike attacks against 
 North Korea and China.\n\nAt last count, Japan possessed 47 tons of 
 weapons-grade plutonium in its stockpiles, and it has long been assumed 
 that it is just "a turn of a screwdriver" away from becoming a full-fledged 
 nuclear power. Sheila A. Smith writes in Japan Rearmed that "the Japanese 
 government has never argued that Article 9 would prevent the nuclear 
 option." And in 1996 the lead author of Japan's Defense White Paper stated 
 that for 30 years the SDF has believed that it has the right to deploy 
 tactical nuclear weapons (which can be as powerful as the Hiroshima and 
 Nagasaki A-bombs). It was, he simply said, a right that the SDF had yet to 
 exercise. In times past, U.S. diplomats have sought to influence Chinese 
 policy decisions by threatening to rescind the nuclear umbrella over Japan, 
 opening the way for Tokyo to become a rival nuclear power.\n\nResponding to 
 China's Rise and North Korea's Nukes and Missiles\n\nWith memories of 
 Japan's brutal WWII conquests and military/colonial occupations, Asian 
 nations—especially China and Korea—have been wary of Japanese 
 militarism and rearmament. However, China's rise, replacing Japan as the 
 world's second wealthiest country, the military buildup the Chinese economy 
 has made possible, and North Korea's nuclear and missile programs came as a 
 massive shocks to the Japanese people and establishment. They have spurred 
 and provided the political rationale for Tokyo's near total abandonment of 
 Article I, its military buildup, and the expanding alliance with the United 
 States.\n\nIn part, it's an identity crisis that dates back to the Japanese 
 elites' response to Admiral Perry's 1853 "opening" of Japan with his Black 
 warships. The Meiji restoration, which overthrew the shogunate and created 
 modern Japan, opted to integrate many dimensions of Western civilization, 
 methods, and ambitions as it began to identify more with the West than the 
 East. Throughout the 20th century, most Japanese viewed China as poor and 
 backward, and there were complex feelings, including guilt, about their 
 nation's brutal invasion and colonization of much of China. Ironically, 
 China's industrial modernization under Deng Xiaoping was largely fueled by 
 Japanese technologies and investments.\n\nDespite this modern history of 
 cooperation, the 2012 right-wing Japanese initiative to purchase the 
 uninhabited Senkaku/Diaoyu islets which lie in the East China Sea between 
 Japan and China triggered intensifying military tensions between Beijing 
 and Tokyo. These uninhabited rocks are claimed by both nations and could 
 potentially influence a struggle for control of Okinawa and the waters 
 leading to Taiwan. Japanese and Chinese naval and air forces have conducted 
 almost daily provocative operations around and over the islets to reinforce 
 their claims. A collision or other accident could easily spark a military 
 escalation, which in turn could precipitate U.S. intervention on Japan's 
 behalf in order to fulfill its alliance Treaty obligations.\n\nIn the face 
 of China's growing military power and North Korea's increasing military 
 capabilities, Tokyo has repeatedly increased its military budget, breaking 
 what was the long-honored spending cap of 1% of its GDP for the SDF. Prime 
 Minister Shinzo Abe—who ruled from 2012 to 2022 and was the son of the 
 accused Class A war criminal and later Prime Minister Nobusuke 
 Kishi—pressed the expansion of the Japanese military and unsuccessfully 
 prioritized the elimination of Article 9, constitutional limitations be 
 damned. \n\nIn mid-December, without national debate, Prime Minister 
 Kishida—Abe's successor—appears to have shattered the last vestiges of 
 Article 9 restrictions. In the last month he has committed to doubling 
 Japan's military expenditures. In the words of Japan's newspaper of record, 
 Asahi Shimbun, the Kishida Cabinet adopted new versions of three major 
 security policies: the National Security Strategy, the Defense Strategy, 
 and the Defense Capability Enhancement Plan. As Asahi Shimbun 
 editorialized, "the centerpiece of his new defense strategy is the 
 possession of the ability to strike enemy bases, which…entails the risk 
 of triggering a Japanese action that is seen as a pre-emptive strike in 
 violation of international law. The policy shift could also risk provoking 
 military countermeasures from potential enemies and heighten tensions in 
 the region."\n\nJapan has played the role of prized and largely obedient 
 Asia-Pacific ally, even secretly allowing for the U.S. to introduce nuclear 
 weapons into its Japanese bases despite Japan's three non-nuclear 
 principles (not to possess, manufacture or allow introduction of nuclear 
 weapons). At the same time, its ruling elite is proceeding with an 
 awareness that there is no permanence between friends and enemies. In the 
 words of Sheila A. Smith, Japan has been preparing for "the U.S. 
 abandonment of its longstanding maritime dominance in Asia [which] would 
 leave Japan open to greater Chinese pressure." This fear may be taking on 
 greater traction as the new Republican majority in the House of 
 Representatives threatens to cut Pentagon spending by $75 billion. Via its 
 coalition building and joint operations with other Indo-Pacific naval 
 powers, Tokyo is laying the foundations for a possible new 21st century 
 alliance structure to restrain China\n\nCommon Security Diplomatic 
 Alternatives\n\nAll of this is taking place in the context of spiraling 
 arms races and provocative military activities in East Asia and more 
 broadly across the Indo-Pacific. China responded to December's massive 
 increase in U.S. military spending by sending a wave of 71 warplanes and 7 
 warships across the medial line in the Taiwan Strait. Subsequently, a 
 Chinese warplane intercepted a U.S. spy plane threatening a collision as it 
 came within 10 feet of the American aircraft. \n\nResponding to renewed and 
 massive U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which include the toppling of 
 the North Korean regime, Kim Jung Un launched dozens of missiles near South 
 Korean and Japanese waters and claims to have tested a new ICBM rocket 
 engine capable of reaching the United States. In response, the right-wing 
 Yoon government in Seoul and the Biden administration are meeting to deepen 
 their nuclear weapons collaborations. Meanwhile, deeper into Asia, Chinese 
 and Indian forces came to blows again in their contest to control 
 oxygen-thin heights in the Himalayan mountains.\n\nWere the stakes not so 
 high, these reckless demonstrations of power could be compared to Mafia 
 battles for street cred. Just as there are rules for the games of Mafia 
 struggles for power, there are also diplomatic rules and international law 
 designed to prevent catastrophes in great power and other international 
 competitions. Not the least is the United Nations charter which obligates 
 states to "refrain….from the threat or use of force against the 
 territorial integrity or political independence of any state", and requires 
 that international disputes be resolved by peaceful means. These rules were 
 further enhanced in the 1980s by the common security commitments that no 
 nation will seek to enhance its security by jeopardizing that of other 
 nations. Common Security served as the paradigm on which the Cold War was 
 brought to an end prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and it defined 
 Euro-Atlantic relations throughout the 1990s, the first decade of the 
 post-Cold War era.\n\nToday, across the Indo-Pacific, as well as in the 
 escalating Ukraine War, humanity stands an accident or miscalculation away 
 from the calamity of nuclear war. It is past time for the U.S., Japan, 
 China, and the Koreas to pursue their national interests—including human 
 survival—by backing away from and reversing their dangerously spiraling 
 military confrontations and embrace common security diplomacy and 
 solutions. With necessity being the mother of invention, as it faces 
 possible massive cuts in U.S. military spending by the newly-installed GOP 
 majority in the House of Representatives, the Biden Administration could 
 proactively get ahead of the curve. It could renew appeals for Common 
 Security diplomacy and solutions, urging great and lesser power 
 collaborations—including reversal of the dangers of the climate 
 emergency—instead of pursuing primacy.\n\nRather than pouring military 
 fuel on the fire, the U.S. and Japan, each of which faces major economic 
 and social challenges, should cease encouraging Taiwanese independence and 
 encourage what would be difficult and extended Taiwanese-Chinese 
 negotiations over the self-governing island's future. As in the days that 
 immediately followed the brief Biden-Xi summit, the two great powers could 
 ratchet down the number and intensity of their provocative military 
 exercises. \n\nMuch as the 1924 naval agreement between the U.S., Japan, 
 and Britain ensured more than a decade of relative peace across the 
 Pacific, today's Asia-Pacific powers could agree to collaborate in securing 
 South China/West Philippine sea lanes, encourage ASEAN-Chinese negotiations 
 for a regional code of conduct, and share the Sea's vast resources. The 
 U.S., South Korea, and Japan could reengage diplomacy with North Korea by 
 signaling a willingness to reduce and then halt their escalating 
 tit-for-tat military operations and press for a resumption of a version of 
 the Six-Party Talks of the first decade of this century.\n\nReprising the 
 words of a Japanese-American prophet, Yoko Ono, "War is over if you want." 
 Solutions are known. The question is if we have the will to secure 
 them.\n\n-- \n\n--- \nYou received this message because you are subscribed 
 to the Google Groups "No Nukes Action Committee" group.\nTo unsubscribe 
 from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to 
 nonukesaction+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.\nTo view this discussion on the 
 web visit 
 https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/nonukesaction/B90FE9B9-95CE-40DE-8D58-CAD9FFAD4636%40igc.org.\n\n\nJapan 
 wants G-7 backing for plans on Fukushima water, 
 soil\nhttps://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14845638\nTHE ASAHI 
 SHIMBUN\nFebruary 22, 2023 at 17:31 JST\n\nPhoto/Illutration\nStorage tanks 
 holding treated water line the grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power 
 plant. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)\nPhoto/Illutration\nThe Japanese 
 government is seeking Group of Seven support for its contentious plans on 
 dealing with water and soil contaminated from the triple meltdown at the 
 Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.\n\nJapan will host the G-7 summit in 
 Hiroshima in May, as well as a series of G-7 meetings of ministers 
 overseeing different policy areas.\n\nOne meeting planned for April in 
 Sapporo will bring together G-7 ministers overseeing climate, energy and 
 the environment.\n\nAt a working-level meeting in Tokyo on Feb. 1-3, 
 Japanese officials explained their draft of a joint statement called 
 “Building Blocks” that could be issued after the Sapporo meeting.\n\nIt 
 said the ministers welcomed “the transparent process toward discharge” 
 of “treated water without any harm to humans and environment” from the 
 grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 plant, as well as the progress made to 
 “recycling of removed soil.”\n\nBoth measures have faced stiff 
 opposition in Japan from those directly affected by the plans, such as 
 fishermen who operate off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture.\n\nA 
 government source said, “We could play up the safety of those measures if 
 the G-7 members come together.”\n\nHowever, some nations may feel 
 uncomfortable about including issues unique to Japan in a joint 
 statement.\n\nAnother government source said a consensus had not been 
 reached among the seven nations to include such wording in the 
 statement.\n\nNo past G-7 joint statement has ever mentioned the two 
 measures in a positive light.\n\nWater contaminated by the crippled 
 Fukushima reactors has been treated and stored in tanks on the nuclear 
 plant grounds. But groundwater continues to be polluted in the heavily 
 damaged buildings.\n\nPlant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said all 
 available tanks would be filled with water between summer and autumn this 
 year.\n\nThe utility is using the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) 
 to lower the levels of 62 radioactive substances to government safety 
 standards. But ALPS cannot remove tritium, a radioactive isotope of 
 hydrogen, so the plan is to dilute it to under one-40th of the statutory 
 standards before the water is discharged.\n\nThe plan to release the water 
 about 1 kilometer off the coast of the Fukushima plant is scheduled to 
 begin as early as spring.\n\nIn addition to Fukushima fishermen, China, 
 South Korea, Russia and the Pacific Islands Forum, made up of 15 nations 
 and two regions, have raised concerns about the plan.\n\nThe International 
 Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to release its report about the measure 
 between April and June before the start of the water-discharge plan.\n\nThe 
 government plans to reuse decontaminated soil to reduce the volume to be 
 placed in final storage. The soil will be treated to a level below 8,000 
 becquerels per kilogram, the threshold set by the government.\n\nPlans to 
 reuse the soil in two municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture have stalled 
 because of opposition from local residents.\n\nAnd people in Tokorozawa, 
 Saitama Prefecture, have also raised objections to the plan to reuse the 
 Fukushima soil in their community.\n\n\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/02/25/18854551.php
SUMMARY:At Fukushima, No Dumping Radioactive Water Into Pacific Ocean & No Restarting Nukes
LOCATION:San Francisco Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St./California St\nSan 
 Francisco
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/02/25/18854551.php
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