Mirrar 'saddened' by ongoing Fukushima disaster

Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation Chairperson Annie Ngalmirama with former Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan. PHOTO: DOMINIC O'BRIEN

ON the fourth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, Mirarr Traditional Owners have expressed their continued sadness at the ongoing human and environmental devastation.

Contamination from the failed reactors has forced more than 150,000 people to permanently leave their homes near the site, with news just last month that fresh leaks of highly radioactive water have been detected.

In October 2011 the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO) confirmed the Fukushima nuclear crisis was directly fuelled by uranium from Australia.  At the time Mirarr Senior Traditional Owner Yvonne Margarula wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon expressing her concern and sadness at the devastation that uranium from her lands was causing in Japan.

“This is an industry we never supported in the past and want no part of in the future. We are all diminished by the events unfolding at Fukushima,” Ms Margarula wrote. 
In August 2014 the Mirarr, along with national environment, union and public health groups, hosted an Australian tour of Mr Naoto Kan. 

Mr Kan was Prime Minister of Japan when the Fukushima reactors failed and, though previously a supporter of nuclear power, is now a passionate advocate for safe renewable energy sources. 

Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation CEO Justin O’Brien said Mirarr country and Japan had been linked by nuclear issues for many years.

“On this fourth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster we send our thoughts to the people of Japan, whose lives have been irrevocably changed by that terrible event,” he said. "Here in Kakadu the legacy of uranium mining is all too evident and we are deeply saddened to learn of the ongoing and increasing impacts of the failed reactors on the people and country of Japan.”