Amid scorching heat, hundreds of Japanese citizens from across the country gathered on August 24, morning outside the headquarters of TEPCO in central Tokyo, demanding that the Japanese government and TEPCO halt the discharge of wastewater into the ocean.
According to Xinhua, protesters, clutching banners and posters featuring images of marine life and Godzilla, chanted slogans such as "No dumping of Fukushima's nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean" and "Stop polluting the sea with radioactive water."
Taeko Fujimura from the Japanese National Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives emphasized that the ocean discharge, projected to continue for at least 30 years, will cause significant harm to the environment. "It will contaminate the sea, marine flora and fauna, the environment, and the Earth."
"Fukushima experienced one of the world's highest-level nuclear accidents, despite promises from the government and TEPCO to ensure safety. Now they are the first in the world to begin releasing nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. It's a 'double disaster'," said a 73-year-old woman.
She also expressed concerns about trusting TEPCO.
"They say the radioactivity concentration in the nuclear-contaminated water meets standards, but I can't believe that at all. The reliability of the measuring instruments themselves is doubtful," she said.
On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered a meltdown due to a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami, leading to a release of radiation and a nuclear accident classified as level 7, the highest on the international nuclear and radiological event scale.
As a result of cooling the nuclear fuel in reactor containment vessels, which is currently stored in around 1,000 tanks on-site, a large volume of water contaminated with radioactive substances has accumulated at the plant.
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