VIENNA--Japan should stop working alone and seek international collaboration in dealing with the problem of radiation-contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said.
VIENNA--Japan should stop working alone and seek international collaboration in dealing with the problem of radiation-contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said.
In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Amano said his agency was prepared to include an expert on marine pollution in the review team that is scheduled to be sent to Japan in autumn.
He also said other experts around the world can help alleviate the crisis at the Fukushima site; they’re just waiting for a request from Japan.
A former Foreign Ministry official, Amano, 66, was reappointed to his post at the September IAEA general conference.
Excerpts of the interview follow.
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I believe the (water) accident occurred while consideration was being given toward such a plan after the Japanese side accepted the recommendation.
We want to provide advice (to Japan) from an overall perspective so it can put together comprehensive measures.
During the September general conference, I spoke about the importance of maritime monitoring with (Ichita) Yamamoto, state minister in charge of science and technology, and (Shunichi) Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, who attended the conference.
Because there is also the problem of negative publicity, it is insufficient for Japan to only say we conducted monitoring and will inform the world about the results.
I believe it is important to work together with international agencies from the planning stage and in accordance with international standards, and to also involve the international community in the transmission of information.
The style of the review team is to exchange views with IAEA specialists, international specialists and Japanese specialists in order to learn from each other. The IAEA’s Environment Laboratories in Monaco has long experience working on the marine environment as well as an extensive network with various nations. If Japan should make a request, we could include researchers from that lab (to the next research team).
Rather than simply have Japan inform the world about what it is doing, it should take the position of wanting to work together with the international community and transmitting information along with the international community.