HR201 HD1

WHEREAS, on March 11, 2011, Japan experienced the strongest earthquake in its recorded history, triggering a tsunami in the Tohoku region that displaced four hundred fifty thousand people, crippled the country's infrastructure, and caused the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; and

WHEREAS, the meltdown was deemed one of the worst nuclear disasters on record; and

WHEREAS, ever since the disaster, crews have continuously pumped water through the wrecked reactors to cool the nuclear fuel, much of which melted; and

WHEREAS, the cooling water picks up radionuclides, many of which are then captured by a specially developed filtering process; however, tritium, which is defined by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a "mildly radioactive isotope", slips through the system, and other radionuclides may also be slipping through; and

WHEREAS, at present, the water is stored in more than one thousand tanks on the grounds of the power plant; however, owner Tokyo Electric Power Company says it is running out of space to store the water on land; and

WHEREAS, after considering five methods of disposal, in 2021, Japan decided to release the treated nuclear wastewater into the ocean, a process that had been scheduled to begin in early 2022 but has been postponed and, if commenced, is expected to continue over the course of forty years; and

WHEREAS, construction setbacks have reportedly postponed the discharge into the Pacific Ocean until spring or summer 2022 at the earliest; and

WHEREAS, the Pacific Ocean is a resource and home for many in Oceania, who rely on it to provide food, economic subsistence, and other essential aspects of life; and

WHEREAS, although the release of the treated wastewater into the ocean was selected and supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency, an independent panel assembled by the Pacific Islands Forum said there was insufficient evidence that the release would be safe; and

WHEREAS, as a Pacific Islands Forum scientific panel member and Director of the University of Hawaii Kewalo Marine Laboratory, Robert Richmond previously raised concerns about the potential interplay between marine life in the Pacific and lingering radioactive compounds, which could eventually make their way into the food system and fundamentally change the ecosystem; and

WHEREAS, Richmond posits that with tritium's half-life of 12.3 years, encasing the treated water in concrete would deal with the issue without risking potential fallout in the Pacific Ocean and turning the wastewater into a transboundary issue, or alternatively, using bioremediation by pumping the wastewater through tanks full of oyster species that consume plankton and incorporate radionuclides into their shells, then storing the water for forty to sixty years; and

WHEREAS, as reiterated by Richmond, "There is a strong consensus internationally that continued use of the ocean for dumping waste is simply not sustainable."; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that this body urges the Government of Japan to halt its plans to dump wastewater from the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body urges the federal government to convey to the Government of Japan, on behalf of the people of Hawaii, the critical importance of exhausting other alternatives to disposal of the wastewater from the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body joins other Pacific Island governments, including the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands, regional entities such as the Pacific Islands Forum, and international experts in:

(1) Urging Japan to reconsider alternatives that better protect the surrounding marine environment and the people who inhabit it;

(2) Reaffirming every person's fundamental right to a clean, safe, and hospitable living environment free from potential toxins, pollutants, and substances that may negatively impact the health and lives of people, the marine environment, and other organisms; and

(3) Reiterating the statement released by the Special Rapporteurs from the United Nations, as cited in House Joint Resolution 22-11 of the Twenty-second Northern Marianas Commonwealth Legislature, that "the release of one million tons of contaminated water into the marine environment imposes considerable risks to the full enjoyment of human rights of concerned populations in and beyond the borders of Japan"; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Prime Minister of Japan; Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan; Minister of the Environment of Japan; Consul General of Japan in Honolulu; President of the United States; Vice-President of the United States; Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency; United States Secretary of the Interior; United States Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; members of Hawaii's Congressional Delegation; Governor; and Mayors of the counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui, and the City and County of Honolulu.

Report Title:

Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; Wastewater; Disposal; Pacific Ocean

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	201
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII