30.08.2022 11:24 Last Updated: 30.08.2022 11:29
Fumiyo Kishida said on Saturday that he was disappointed that the Nuclear Disarmament Treaty was concluded without consensus.
“It is extremely regrettable that consensus has not been reached due to opposition from one country, Russia,” he said.
This statement came after Russia’s opposition to the final consensus draft at the end of the one-month NPT review conference in New York.
The purpose of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) is to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and their technology and to promote peaceful and constructive uses of nuclear energy. The NPT has been signed by 191 states since it opened for signature in 1968.
“SINGLE REALISTIC APPROACH”
The Kremlin-controlled Zaporozhian nuclear power plant was a major point of contention in Russia’s counterarguments.
After the power plant was temporarily disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid on Thursday, fears were rekindled, but connection was soon restored.
According to the news in Independent Turkish, Kishida said strengthening the NPT was the “only realistic approach” to nuclear disarmament.
Pushing for a nuclear-free world, the Prime Minister of Japan became his country’s first leader to attend the NPT review conference.
The Japanese leader said he would work more closely with African countries to pursue their goals of denuclearization.
RADIATION LEAK CONCERN
Meanwhile, new concerns have arisen in Europe about radiation leaks after Ukrainian officials announced on Sunday that Russia had attacked areas between Zaporizhia and the Dnieper River with missiles and artillery.
Russian forces took control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant shortly after the war began, and it controls the adjacent territory along the left bank of the wide river.
The Ukrainian and Russian governments have repeatedly accused each other of bombarding the nuclear facility and its surroundings, raising fears of possible disaster.
Ukraine’s nuclear power utility Energoatom said on Saturday that regular shelling had damaged the infrastructure of the power plant.
Energoatom said, “There are risks in terms of hydrogen leakage and the scattering of radioactive materials, and the fire hazard is high.”
The UN’s atomic energy agency is trying to reach an agreement to send a team to inspect and secure the plant.