Radioactive leak from U.S. nuclear submarine shows that danger of nuclear accident is real

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Radioactive leak from U.S. nuclear submarine shows that danger of nuclear accident is real
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

Radioactive materials, including cobalt 58 and cobalt 60, were found in waters off Yokosuka Port near Tokyo as the USS Honolulu attack submarine left port on September 14. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry tested the seawater near the submarine.

The detection came some six months after the release of a U.S. government "fact sheet" entitled "Safety of U.S. Nuclear-Powered Warships (NPWs)" in a public relations effort to persuade Japan to accept the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base. It stated that for more than 50 years there has been no "release of radioactivity" from NPWs.

The U.S. government has forced Japan to allow nuclear powered submarines to make port calls and pressured Japan to accept the deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Yokosuka, while the Japanese government has swallowed the U.S. explanation about the "safety" record of U.S. nuclear-powered warships. Both the U.S. and Japanese governments must be held accountable for the recent radioactive leak incident.

It is the first time that the Japanese government has publicly confirmed that radioactive materials had been found in connection with U.S. nuclear-powered warships entering Yokosuka.

It is almost certain that the Honolulu leaked the radioactive materials.

There have so far been allegations about radioactive leaks from U.S. warships, but the U.S. forces in Japan always denied them and the Japanese government never tried to find the truth about such allegations. But this time, the government cannot explain away how a radioactive leak occurred despite the U.S. assurance of safety in the "fact sheet".

The U.S. government has the responsibility to explain to the Japanese people how the accident occurred. In 1968, when radioactive materials leaked from the nuclear-powered U.S. submarine Swordfish at Sasebo Port in Nagasaki Prefecture, the United States refused to provide Japan with related materials on the grounds that it is a militarily sensitive issue. Even the then Nuclear Energy Commission of Japan expressed regret at the U.S. refusal.

Foreign Minister Aso Taro received the U.S. "fact sheet" by emphasizing that he believes in the safety of U.S. nuclear-powered warships, and urged Yokosuka City to accept the plan to accept a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

The Japanese government must not give the Japan-U.S. military alliance priority and avoid trying to find the truth about the radioactive leak. It must demand that the United States carry out a thorough investigation into the accident and report the findings to Japan.

It is well known that U.S. nuclear-powered warships have caused many accidents. How terrible it is for the U.S. government to insist that no mishaps other than reactor meltdowns are to be considered nuclear accidents! Note that the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Woodrow Wilson in 1971 and the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John C. Stennis in 1999 had accidents that could have led to an explosion of their nuclear reactors.

The people of Japan, the only atomic-bombed country, refuse to coexist with the danger posed by nuclear-powered warships.

The JCP demands the cancellation of the planned deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to Japan and an end to U.S. nuclear-powered submarines' port-calls in Japan.
- Akahata, September 29, 2006