After years of debate, in early 2021, Japan approved a controversial plan to release radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. Facing a lack of space to continue storing it, Japan has decided to undertake a plan to dump one million cubic meters of radioactive water used to cool the Fukushima reactor after the devastating earthquake in 2011.
Japan’s plan to release radioactive water from Fukushima
According to Japanese authorities, the water that once leaked from the plant, and that was used to cool the Fukushima reactors, will be treated before being released into the ocean. This water is pumped out of the plant’s facilities, then treated and stored in the approximately 1,000 tanks on site.
The problem is that the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), expects the water, which exceeds the amount needed to fill 500 Olympic swimming pools, to eventually take up all the space in the tanks by 2022. After that, Japan will run out of space to store the radioactive water and will start releasing it into the ocean.
A report from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry states that before the release, the radioactive water from Fukushima will be treated to reduce the hazard to a minimum. During this process, most of the radioactive elements will be removed, except for tritium.
The plant operator and the authorities claim that the diluted water has radiation levels below those acceptable for drinking water. In addition, the elements remaining in the water are supposedly only harmful when present in large doses.
According to Japan’s plan, the release of radioactive water from Fukushima into the ocean will begin in 2022 and will take about a decade.
The controversy
The issue has been debated for years at the environmental and fishing industry tables. But now that ocean dumping appears to be a reality, neighboring countries have joined the opposition to launch their arguments against Japan’s decision.
South Korean officials are exploring the possibility of filing a petition to refer to this measure. President Moon Jae-in will seek to file a complaint with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Chinese Foreign Minister Zhao Lijian urged Japan to reverse its decision and act responsibly. “The ocean is not Japan’s garbage dump; the Pacific Ocean is not Japan’s sewers,” he said.
Fukushima nuclear accident
The Fukushima nuclear accident occurred after the earthquake of March 11, 2011, in Japan. It had a magnitude of 9.0 on the seismological moment magnitude scale and caused a tsunami with waves up to 40 meters high on the northeast coast of Japan.
The waves reached the reactors of the Fukushima nuclear power plant and destroyed the emergency generators. The consequences were devastating, three nuclear meltdowns, three hydrogen explosions, and the release of radioactive contamination. The severity level of the nuclear accident is rated at level 7 on the International Nuclear Accident Scale. The same severity was attributed to the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
Text courtesy of Ecoosfera
Photos: Reuters/ AFP
Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
