PM urged to oppose wastewater

OPPOSITION Leader Joseph Lelang has urged Prime Minister James Marape to reject a report by the international atomic energy agency (IAEA) and oppose Japan’s request to dump nuclear wastes in the Pacific Ocean.
Lelang said the IAEA released a report on its findings in its latest report covering its independent sampling and analysis to assess the safety relating to Japan’s plan to release the treated nuclear waste water from the Fukushima nuclear waste.
He said their report was completely contradictory to the Position Paper released by the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) and the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) in opposing Japan’s plan to dump.
“I am rejecting Japan’s plans to release radioactive waste in the Pacific Ocean outright because it will affect the ocean marine life, it will affect the fishing industry and its markets and the health of our people,” Lelang said.
“The Opposition’s position is clear and we acknowledge the NAML, an organisation made up of 100 member laboratories who are calling on the government of Japan and IAEA scientists to carefully and adequately consider the options recommended by the PIF experts’ panel.”
He said NAML had made their position clear and that they were concerned about the absence of critical data on the radionuclide contents of each tank and the underlying rationale of dilution ignored the reality of biological processes of organic binding bioaccumulation and bio-concentration as well as accumulation in local sea food sediments.
Lelang said it was right on the Government to commit to the Treaty of Rarotonga and Treaty of Waigani of which PNG was a signatory to both and was binding by law.