China urges long-term international supervision over Fukushima wastewater discharge and also calls on Japan to show sincerity to seriously address the legitimate concerns from home and abroad.
VIENNA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Friday called for strict, independent and effective long-term international supervision over Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean.
Japan's wastewater discharge has continued to raise deep concerns among the international community, and the strong opposition from Japan's neighboring countries has never subsided, Li Song, China's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a meeting of the agency's board of governors.
Noting that Japan has recently started its sixth round of the Fukushima wastewater release, Li raised doubts about the long-term reliability of Japan's wastewater purification equipment, the effectiveness of the current monitoring arrangements, the weak supervision from the Japanese government, and the chaotic management of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the Fukushima plant's operator.
These doubts highlight the importance and urgency of establishing a long-term international supervision mechanism for wastewater discharge, Li said, adding that strict, independent and effective international supervision should be put in place as an addition to the regulation of the Japanese government and monitoring by Japanese nuclear power regulators, rather than to replace them.
Li stressed that only through such an arrangement can Japan dispel the concerns and panic caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident and wastewater release, and effectively address the serious concerns of the people of China and other stakeholder countries.
Such an arrangement is also conducive to further strengthening the authority and function of the IAEA in the field of international nuclear security and serves the fundamental interests of Japan and the Japanese people, he added.
Meanwhile, the Chinese envoy said China and Japan have agreed to find an appropriate solution to the issue of the Fukushima wastewater discharge through consultation and negotiation in a constructive manner.
Li said China hopes that Japan will show sincerity, seriously address the legitimate concerns from home and abroad, earnestly fulfill its responsibilities and obligations, and join hands with China, the IAEA, and the international community to work out more effective supervision measures to ensure that the Fukushima wastewater release will not cause long-term harm to the marine environment and the humankind. ■
