Pacific island leaders urge Japan to stop dumping nuclear waste into ocean: report

SYDNEY - Leaders from multiple Pacific island countries are calling upon the Japanese government to immediately stop its plans for dumping nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean, a news agency of the International Press Syndicate Group has reported.

Papua New Guinea's Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources Jelta Wong said that there is little doubt that the nuclear wastewater will find its way into ecosystems and food chains to contaminate people and harm Pacific fisheries industries, according to a report published by InDepthNews on Monday.

Fiji's Acting Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica said that Fiji has been on a very high alert after Japan said it planned to discharge the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

If the water treated by the Advanced Liquid Processing System is so safe, "why not reuse it in Japan for alternative purposes, in manufacturing and agriculture for instance?" he asked.