Tuvaluan Minister for Finance Seve Paeniu is concerned about Fijian Prime Minister Sitiven Rabuka’s stance to allow the discharge of million tons of treated water from the Fukushima Nuclear Treatment Plant into the Pacific Ocean.

The Tuvaluan Minister for Finance and Economic Development said Rabuka’s stance contradicted what the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) had decided.

However, that wasn’t going to change the decision made by the PIFs.

He made the comments when questioned on the sidelines of the Pacific Small Island Development meeting in Suva .

“The PIFS have already made a collective decision to try and talk with Japan to try and come up with a solution,” he said.

Paeniu added, Rabuka’s debate of science begged the question on the need to dump the waste in the Pacific Ocean.

“Science is also debatable, if Japan is certain there wouldn’t be any impact, why not dump this waste in their own lakes and water surrounding,” he said.

Tuvalu being a low-lying atoll nation, barely two metres above sea level, Paeiniu said its long-term adaptation solution of mitigating climate change in their island nation contradicted the support of dumping waste into the Pacific Ocean.

“The ocean is our resource and our source of survival, and we want to do everything in our power to maintain and protect that,” he said.

“Tuvalu will continue to advocate preventing Japan from going ahead with dumping nuclear waste into our Pacific Ocean,” he said.

This story was written by Beranadeta Nagatalevu, originally published at Fiji Sun on 22 August 2023, reposted via PACNEWS.