Nuclear Contaminated Water Dumping: IAEA Concludes ‘Absolute Safety of Nuclear Contaminated Water’ with Japanese Government Money?
Foreign Ministry official reveals in alleged transcripts of conversations
“More than 1 million euros handed over to IAEA officials, director general, etc.”
“IAEA report conclusion of nuclear contaminated water was ‘absolutely safe’ from the beginning”
Adopting an investigation method that detects only easy-to-detect elements129 etc.
South Korea’s Kim Hong-seok and others “IAEA experts are just decorations”
A memo from a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ 1
A document has surfaced in Japan that raises suspicions that the Japanese government is paying IAEA officials large sums of money to work with each other and “collude” in the dumping of Fukushima nuclear contaminated water into the ocean.
‘Foreign Ministry Executive A Memo’, 1 million euros to IAEA
According to the document, which was obtained by citizen journalist Mindle on Nov. 21, the final report of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) safety inspection, which is expected to be released later this month, has already concluded that the plant is “absolutely safe,” as demanded by Japan. To this end, the Japanese government has paid more than 1 million euros in “political contributions” to IAEA officials, so there is “no need to worry” about opposition from South Korea and China to the dumping of contaminated water into the ocean, which will begin as early as mid to late July, according to “Foreign Ministry official A” in the document.
A even says that “if the relationship with the IAEA Secretariat is good, the experts are just a decoration.” Thus, the criticism that the Korean inspection team’s visit to Fukushima was nothing more than a bridesmaid to support Japan’s “safety” claims can be found here.
Like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “Handling Caution” report, which was obtained and reported by the citizen media Dandelion on the 8th of this month (“Fukushima Contaminated Water Already Declared “Harmless” During Korean Inspection Team’s Visit?”), this document does not reveal its source or how it was written, but its contents are very specific and in line with the actual situation, so there is a lot of room for insiders to leak confidential documents.
‘Memo A from a Foreign Ministry official’ 2
‘Recovered from the meeting table’ external secret (社外秘)
The three-page document exposed this time is titled “Memo of Foreign Ministry Executive A,” and is written in the form of a conversation with a foreign ministry executive named A (hereinafter referred to as A) in which the “person in charge” Asakawa asks questions and A answers. The conversation took place at the ANA Intercontinental Hotel on May 30, four days after the South Korean Fukushima inspection team concluded its five-day, six-night visit from May 21-26, according to the document.
Just as the document reported on May 8, which summarized a conversation between Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Company President Akira Ono and a Nuclear Regulatory Commission official, was marked with a red confidential document classification of “handling with caution,” this document is also marked with a red lettering of “seat recall,” and the words “private secret” in pale large letters are stamped at an angle throughout the document.
The IAEA’s methodology and conclusions were dictated by Japan
In the document, A states that the contaminated water filtered by the ALPS, which the Japanese government and TEPCO claim is “treated water,” is “safe” because the methodology and conclusions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will make the final determination, are in accordance with the Japanese government’s requirements. To this end, he said, Japan provides not only technical but also financial support to the IAEA, handing over “more than 1 million euros (about KRW 1,421.5 million)” to “Mr. Freeman” and “Mr. Grossi” as “political contributions”.
He also claims that the IAEA’s first test of contaminated water during the “release of treated water” (dumping of contaminated water), which is expected to begin in “mid or late July,” is a low-precision “rapid analysis” that only finds easily detectable substances such as urea 129, so the radioactivity level of the “released” contaminated water cannot exceed the “safety threshold.” Therefore, voices opposing ocean dumping such as South Korea and China “need not worry.
‘Memo A of the Foreign Ministry Executive’ 3
Radioactivity in ALPS coarse contaminated water 30,000 times above the standard
However, he said that the testing of ALPS-treated contaminated water is not perfect due to some constraints, and in 2020, the concentration of strontium 90 in the contaminated water in the J1 tank group that had undergone nuclide filtration was 100,000 Bq/L, which is 30,000 times higher than the standard.
Perhaps more importantly, he said, they still don’t know why it happened. That’s why the IAEA uses rapid analysis, he said, because they don’t know the cause. In Mr. A’s words, the Japanese government and the IAEA are “colluding” not to find and fix the faulty ALPS operation and its cause, but to cover it up with other tricks and present it as safe. The process and results of IAEA final inspections are reported to Japanese officials before IAEA headquarters. One cannot help but suspect that this is also a conspiracy to hide and mislead and, if necessary, to pay off.
“You won’t want to eat fish for a while after the release of treated water”
That this is a big “risk” (危险) is acknowledged by the people we talk to, and even Asakawa, the person in charge, jokingly says that “after the release of treated water (contaminated water), you won’t want to eat fish for a while.
It is also important to note that in the 1950s, residents of Minamata, a fishing village in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, were poisoned by methylmercury released by a nearby factory, and the officer in charge of managing the Minamata disease outbreak eventually committed suicide. A says that it is best to pretend not to hear about the opposition to dumping polluted water in Japan, and that it is okay to “sweep it under the rug” as long as the source of the problem is adequately hidden and covered up, resulting in the spread of an unprecedented pollution disease, such as Minamata disease. It’s too barbaric and horrific to be coming from a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.
Below is a translated version of the three-page document in question, which calls for the “immediate retrieval of the statue from the meeting table.

Foreign Ministry Executive A Memo
1.
(Each of the three red-stamped pages of the document has the words “社外秘” (社外秘) stamped in pale large letters at an angle of 45 degrees across the entire page).
“Memorandum for Foreign Ministry Official A
Person in charge: Asakawa 浅川
Date: Tuesday, May 30 @ANA Intercontinental Hotel
Audience: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Executive A
Asakawa: It’s been a while.
A: Yes, I’ve been very busy lately, so I haven’t had a chance to talk to you.
Asakawa: Thank you for your time. So this is the last hurdle to discharge the treated water.
A: That’s right, we’ve been delayed, so now we have to hurry.
Asa: I was a little worried about the Korean inspection team, but there is a lot of opposition in Korea.
A: You don’t have to worry about that.
Asa: And we don’t have to worry about the IAEA’s final inspection?
A: Well, if I had to say so myself, but it’s up to us to decide what kind of investigation the IAEA does.
Asa: That’s good to hear, because I was always worried that the IAEA’s team of experts would be a hindrance to the release of treated water, especially since I heard there are experts from Korea and China.
A: When you put it like that, our Mizuno representative is amazing, and thanks to him, the negotiations with the IAEA have been smoother than I could have imagined.
Asa: That’s great.
A: That’s right, the normal flow is to submit the materials to the IAEA first, but the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of the Environment actually saw them first, which is probably too much for the average person.
Asa: You mean the ALPS treated water review mission?
A: Yes, that was delivered in March or April of this year.
Asa: You mean the final inspection, which has already started.
A: Yes, as you mentioned.
Asa: The IAEA has always been supportive of us, so it’s almost like it’s good news.
A: That’s on the surface, but there are differences of opinion.
Asa: There’s also the behind-the-scenes stuff, so to speak.
A: Absolutely. The IAEA needs financial support, not just technical support.
Asa: South Korea and China also pay the IAEA to accomplish their goals.
A: But we have a better personal relationship with them. We have made a significant effort to have frank communication with Mr. Freeman.
Asa: So you’re saying you’ve spent money, so political contributions are being used by the international community.
A: Yes, it is.

2.
Asakawa: The exact amount.
A: All I can say is that it is at least one million euros.
Asakawa: In addition to Mr. Freeman, you also have Mr. Grossi’s share, so what did you get in return?
A: Of course, the return (quid pro quo) is big. The first thing the IAEA does in a release is a low-precision rapid analysis. That way, the water is not above the threshold.
Asa: Low precision rapid analysis.
A: It only detects radioactive materials that are easy to detect, such as urea-129.
Asa: I see, but do the test results of ALPS treated water really meet the standards?
A: In most cases, no, but that’s the problem. The results are limited by several factors. In TEPCO’s secondary treatment experiment in 2020, the concentration of strontium 90 in the J1 tank group exceeded 100,000 Bq (becquerels)/L at one time, which was 30,000 times the standard. We don’t know the cause, so it’s rapid annihilation.
Asa: That’s a big risk, too.
A: It doesn’t mean anything. Most of the ALPS treated water is fine, diluted with seawater, and safe.
Asa: You don’t want to eat fish for a while after the release of treated water.
A: (laughs)
Asa: So when do you expect to release the final report?
A: By the end of June. We agreed to stay on schedule for the summer. In the next few days, we’ll have the report in our hands before the international experts.
Asa: So the report will be fine?
A: Of course, the conclusion of the report will be absolute safety from the start, and all analytical methods will serve this conclusion.
Asa: Is South Korea’s Kim Hong-Seok now convinced, no way….
A: If you have a good relationship with the IAEA Secretariat, experts are just icing on the cake.
Asa: Won’t there be other opinions (異論)?
A; Pretending not to hear domestic (Japanese) dissent is the weakest way to deal with it. Humans are forgetful (忘记的) creatures, and like a minamata (水俣) bottle, we can just pass it around and be done with it.
Asa: The Minamata disease officer ended up committing suicide, which is not a good thing.
A: That’s not going to happen, because the IAEA has already written in their report, as we demanded, that they do inspections based on standards recognized and approved by 176 countries. So if South Korea, China, the Pacific Islands, etc. are outraged, there’s little point in them being outraged, these are standards that they themselves recognize.
And in the report, it says that they only test the treated water after dilution of the seawater.
Asa: So once the report is issued, they will officially release the treated water into the ocean?

3.
A: If all goes well, it will be mid to late July.
Asa: After that, there will be diplomatic and public opinion responses.
A: I won’t go into too much detail, but I’ve heard that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and TEPCO will hold briefings for third-country media.
Asa: Thank you for sharing this important information with us. If there’s anything we can do to help, please don’t hesitate to tell us.
A: I’m sharing this with you because we’re old friends. Please don’t take notes or I’ll bother you.
Asa: No worries.
Gov’t, TEPCO should take Niigata gubernatorial election results seriously
A candidate who is cautious about restarting idled nuclear power plants won the Oct. 16 Niigata gubernatorial election, defeating a rival backed by the ruling coalition. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) should take seriously the outcome of the election, in which the pros and cons of reactivating the utility’s atomic power station in the prefecture was a key point of contention.
Ryuichi Yoneyama, 49, supported by the opposition Japanese Communist Party, Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party, beat former Nagaoka Mayor Tamio Mori, 67, backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito.
Mori had been expected to score an easy victory as the approval rating of the Abe Cabinet has been high and both the ruling coalition parties enjoy support from the business community and related organizations. Therefore, the results highlight prefectural residents’ deep-rooted distrust in TEPCO, the operator of the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.
The governing bloc’s loss in the Niigata election follows its defeat in the July Kagoshima gubernatorial race, in which journalist Satoshi Mitazono, who called on Kyushu Electric Power Co. to stop operations at its Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in the prefecture during his campaigning, scored a victory.
The outcome of the Niigata race also apparently shows local residents’ displeasure toward Mori, who failed to clarify his stance toward whether the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in the prefecture should be restarted, as well as their criticism of the Abe administration that is proactively trying to reactivate atomic power plants.
Close attention was focused on the latest election because incumbent Hirohiko Izumida abandoned seeking a fourth four-year term as governor.
The reason why Izumida gave up on running in the race remains unclear. However, Izumida has continued to demand TEPCO clarify the cause of the Fukushima nuclear crisis as a precondition for sitting at the negotiation table to discuss whether the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant should be reactivated. As such, TEPCO and the Abe government had expected that the retirement of Izumida would help facilitate the resumption of operations at nuclear plants.
As the election campaign went on, however, Yoneyama, who declared that he would take over Izumida’s policy line, garnered growing support from local voters. Alarmed by the situation, LDP heavyweights, including Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai, delivered campaign speeches and urged the local business community and industry organizations to vote for Mori.
Numerous voters in Niigata, who saw the LDP’s desperate efforts to persuade local voters to vote for Mori, probably felt the old-fashioned culture of the LDP. During his campaigning, Mori emphasized his experience of serving as president of the Japan Association of City Mayors to demonstrate his close relations with the national government. However, he gave local voters the impression that he was hesitant to clarify his position on reactivation of atomic power plants.
Many challenges have been left unaddressed by Izumida, such as whether the evacuation plan for local residents in case of an accident at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is appropriate. Yoneyama must address these challenges as he pledged during his campaigning.
The manner in which the largest opposition Democratic Party (DP) approached the election was poor. The DP did not officially support Yoneyama although the party had initially planned to field him in the next House of Representatives election because the TEPCO union has strong influence within the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), which is a major supporting organization for the party. However, DP leader Renho did an about-face and delivered campaign speeches for Yoneyama in the final phase of the campaign apparently after being convinced that he would win.
The DP cannot win support from voters unless the party discusses its nuclear power policy and clarifies its stance on the issue.
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20161017/p2a/00m/0na/009000c
Government likely to retain grip on beleaguered Tepco

The government might stay involved in the management of Tokyo Electric longer than planned, given the ballooning costs of scrapping the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, sources close to the matter said.
The delay in reactivating the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture, the main pillar of the utility’s reconstruction plan, is another factor prompting the government rethink, the sources said Saturday. It had planned to end state control next April.
The government is leading the business operations of struggling Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings, which is facing huge compensation payments and other problems from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, because it has acquired 50.1 percent of the firm’s voting rights via the state-backed Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corp.
Some bureaucrats at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have been dispatched to Tepco.
Tepco said in a business plan in 2014 that it would turn itself from a “temporarily publicly managed” company to a self-managed one starting next April.
The industry ministry will hold the first panel meeting Wednesday to discuss additional government support for the utility.
Tepco faces swelling costs for decommissioning the Fukushima No. 1 plant and compensating those affected beyond the previously estimated ¥11 trillion ($108 billion). Two reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant are under prolonged safety examinations by nuclear regulators.
The prospect of restarting the giant plant is also being complicated by impending changes in the leadership of the Niigata Prefectural Government, which hosts it.
To restart the plant, approval from the Niigata governor is needed.
Hirohiko Izumida, the current governor, was cautious about restarting the reactors because of Tepco’s failure to fully examine the cause of the Fukushima disaster. He withdrew his bid for re-election at the end of August.
Of the four candidates running for the Oct. 16 election, former Nagaoka Mayor Tamio Mori, 67, backed by the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito ruling coalition, and Ryuichi Yoneyama, a 49-year-old doctor, are leading the race. Yoneyama has said he will follow Izumida’s stance and is opposed to any discussion of restarts unless the Fukushima disaster is thoroughly explained.
Tepco’s new business plan, including the revised schedule for ending state control, is expected to be compiled next January.

Tokyo Electric Power : Gov’t planning to stay involved in TEPCO’s management longer

The government is considering staying involved in Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s business management longer than currently planned, given larger-than-expected costs for scrapping the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, sources close to the matter said Saturday.
A delay in the process for reactivating its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, a main pillar of the utility’s reconstruction plan, is another factor prompting the government to think it would be too soon to end state control next April as initially planned, they said.
The government is leading business operations of the utility facing huge compensation payments and other problems from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster as it has acquired 50.1 percent of the firm’s voting rights through the state-backed Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corp.
Some bureaucrats of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry are dispatched to the utility, known as TEPCO.
TEPCO said in a business plan in 2014 it would turn itself from the “temporarily publicly managed” company to a self-managed one starting next April.
The industry ministry will hold the first panel meeting Wednesday to discuss additional government support for the utility.
TEPCO faces swelling costs for decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi plant and compensating those affected beyond the previously estimated 11 trillion yen ($108 billion). Two reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant are under prolonged safety examinations by nuclear regulators.
TEPCO’s new business plan including the revised schedule for ending state control is expected to be compiled next January.
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