Informational visit to Fukushima reactor site planned
Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks is setting off to Japan on Friday (13 May). The week-long trip will include the G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting on 15 and 16 May in the city of Toyama in west Japan followed by political talks in Tokyo and finally a visit to the destroyed Fukushima reactors on 19 May to learn about work being carried out on the site.
Under Japan's G7 Presidency, an Environment Ministers' Meeting is being held for the first time since 2009. The meeting will focus on climate policy, resource efficiency and circular economy. Other topics to be discussed include biodiversity, chemicals management, marine conservation and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. There will be a special event on the role of cities in climate action and environmental protection. Germany will be represented at the event by the Mayor of Frankfurt am Main, Mr Peter Feldmann.
Minister Hendricks will be meeting with representatives of the Japanese Government in Toyko, including Environment Minister Tamayo Marukawa and Minister of Infrastructure Keiichi Ishii. On 18 May, together with the Japanese Environment Minister Marukawa, she will be opening a Japanese-German climate workshop and signing a joint declaration on climate cooperation between Germany and Japan. During her visit Barbara Hendricks will also be holding talks with representatives of Japanese industry and NGOs. She is being accompanied by a delegation from Germany comprising high-level representatives from industry, the scientific community and civil society.
Minister Hendricks commented: "Germany and Japan are global leaders in the development of new technologies. Both countries can play an important role in testing and providing the world with new technologies that are urgently needed for climate action and the transformation of our energy supply towards renewables and efficiency. During the upcoming talks I will be calling for even stronger cooperation."
At the end of the trip, on 19 May, the Minister will be visiting the site of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant where the nuclear reactors were destroyed in 2011. The purpose of this visit is to find out about the ongoing work to dismantle the plant and decontaminate the surrounding areas. The Minister will visit the towns of Tomoika and Naraha, both located very near the plant, to get an overview of the problems to be overcome in revitalising the region.
"Japan is facing major challenges in order to move forward with the dismantling and clean-up of the nuclear power plant site and region. Besides financial resources for compensation payments and the costs of dismantling, research funding needs to be made available for the development of new, never before seen, technologies. I consider it my job make sure the the people of this region are not forgotten and to raise awareness of their particular situation at international level" explained Barbara Hendricks.