Sir Collin Tukuitonga, Associate Dean Pacific of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, is strongly condemning a decision to allow the dumping of 1.25 million litres of treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.
An earthquake in March 2011 caused major damage at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and was followed by a devastating tsunami which knocked out the Plant’s cooling system. While the nuclear power plant is now defunct, to keep the reactors from overheating, hundreds of tonnes of water are pumped through the reactors daily.
Japan is now running out of space to store this contaminated water and plans to dump the treated wastewater from directly into the Pacific Ocean.
Sir Collin Tukuitonga vehemently opposes this plan.
“While the science of this issue could perhaps be argued either way, it is completely unacceptable to be dumping contaminated wastewater into our Pacific Ocean,” he says.
“Pacific peoples rely on the ocean for our livelihoods and to feed our families. We are the guardians of the largest and most precious ocean in the world. There is absolutely no way that the Pacific should be the dumping ground for this waste.”
Despite protestations, plans are still underway for the dumping, which is believed to be beginning sometime this year and continuing over 30-40 years. There is staunch opposition from Pacific nations with the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, leading a delegation to Japan in xx to present the case against the proposal.
Sir Collin says it is important that larger Pacific nations such as Aotearoa New Zealand use their voices to oppose this dumping.
“New Zealand has a responsibility to its partners in the region to stand up to Japan for its lack of consideration for Pacific peoples living in the region who heavily rely on the ocean for their livelihoods,” he said.
