Ban Uranium mining: Fukushima survivor urges Queensland

A survivor of the Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident has urged the conservative Liberal National Party state government in Queensland to reinstate a ban on uranium mining.

Japanese dairy farmer Hasegawa Kenichi is in Brisbane with a delegation from the Japanese disaster relief organisation Peace Boat.

“Uranium is something the human body cannot handle, cannot cope with. It’s like opening Pandora’s box,” he said.

“This government, all governments, must stop using this substance, they must be left underground.”

The Uranium Implementation Committee, tasked with developing a best practice framework for the resumption of uranium mining, will submit its recommendations to the government this month.

The committee has been examining the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia’s uranium export industry.

However, Peace Boat spokesman Akira Kawasaki is urging the government to think carefully about the Fukushima accident, which has devastated thousands of lives.

“Think about all those people, all those lives this substance destroyed, before making your decision,” he told AAP.

“Don’t make the mistake we did,” Mr Kawasaki warned.

The Fukushima nuclear reactor was badly damaged in a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, which hit Japan on March 11, 2011, causing multiple reactor meltdowns.

Residents were evacuated over an 80 kilometre radius while there remains continuing radioactive contamination of land and the Pacific Ocean, including the sea floor and fish.

More than 15,000 people were killed in the most powerful earthquake ever known to have hit the country.