Japan starts releasing Fukushima nuke wastewater into ocean amid protest, opposition
Among the protesters was Sachiko Uno, who told Xinhua that she came to "stop them from polluting the ocean."
"One of the world's top-level nuclear accidents occurred in Fukushima despite safety promises made by the government and TEPCO. Now, they have become the world's first by beginning to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. This is a 'double damage,'" said the 73-year-old woman.
Uno is also concerned with TEPCO's credibility. "It says the radioactivity concentration in the nuclear-contaminated water meets the standards, but I can't believe that at all. The reliability of the measuring instruments themselves is questionable," she said.
Hit by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and an ensuing tsunami on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima plant suffered core meltdowns that released radiation, resulting in a level-7 nuclear accident, the highest on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.
