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Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of the Foreign Ministry Sun Xiaobo Attends “No. 7A Salon -- A Briefing on Japan’s Disposal of Nuclear-Contaminated Water of Fukushima”

2023-03-16 23:00

On March 16, 2023, the “No. 7A Salon - A Briefing on Japan's Disposal of Nuclear-Contaminated Water of Fukushima” was held at Xianhe Hall of Beijing International Club. Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of the Foreign Ministry Sun Xiaobo attended the event upon invitation, and expounded on the position of the Chinese government on Japan’s discharge of nuclear-contaminated water of Fukushima into the ocean. Secretary-General of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association Li Chijiang and Chief Expert of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment Liu Xinhua attended upon invitation the briefing. Journalists from more than 20 mainstream media outlets of the United States, Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, France, India, Pakistan and Iran, as well as journalists from such domestic media outlets as China Media Group, China Global Television Network and the Global Times attended the event.

Sun Xiaobo said that on April 13, 2021, Japan unilaterally decided to dispose of the water contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear accident and discharge it into the ocean. China expressed serious concern and resolute opposition to this. The Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water contains a large number of radionuclides, and many radionuclides have no effective treatment technology, which will cause unpredictable harm to the marine environment and human health. The 30-year discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean will have a cross-border impact and bear on the global marine environment and public health. Japan’s decision to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean is to transfer the risks to all humanity. China, the Republic of Korea, Russia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Pacific island states have repeatedly expressed their concerns, but Japan has not engaged in full and meaningful consultations with stakeholders, nor has it provided adequate scientific and credible explanations on the legitimacy of the discharge plan of the nuclear-contaminated water, reliability of data, effectiveness of purification devices and uncertainty of environmental impact.

Sun Xiaobo pointed out that the Task Force of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not yet completed the assessment of Japan’s ocean discharge plan, and has not reached a final conclusion. Instead, it has pointed out a series of inconsistencies between Japan’s ocean discharge plan and the IAEA Safety Standards. Nevertheless, Japan still forced the approval of the implementation of the specific plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean in July last year, and announced on the eve of the inspection and assessment of the IAEA Task Force in Japan on January 16 this year that it would start discharging the water into the ocean in spring and summer this year. This is by no means what a responsible country should do.

Sun Xiaobo emphasized that Japan should dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a safe manner consistent with the obligations of international law, international safety standards and international good practices from an objective and scientific perspective, including fully studying and examining other disposal plans other than discharging the water into the ocean. Japan must not start discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean before all stakeholders and relevant international agencies can confirm the safety of the ocean discharge plan.

Li Chijiang and Liu Xinhua respectively elaborated on the hazards of the ocean discharge plan of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water from legal, scientific and professional perspectives, and pointed out that Japan’s discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean violates international obligations stipulated in general international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Sun Xiaobo and the two experts also took questions from the journalists.

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