2023-08-22 10:59:43
2 hours ago
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Demonstrators protested outside the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on Tuesday, demanding that the government abandon the discharge of nuclear wastewater.
Amid objections from neighboring countries, Japan still decided to discharge the treated radioactive sewage from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean from Thursday (August 24), which is expected to continue for 30 years.
Since the 2011 tsunami that devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the site has accumulated 1.34 million tons of water, enough to fill 500 Olympic-size swimming pools.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gave the green light to the emissions plan in July, saying it met international safety standards.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday (22nd) that if the weather and sea conditions are suitable, the authorities will ask nuclear plant operators to “quickly prepare” to start draining water on August 24.
He said: “Even if it takes decades, the government will take responsibility until the water is treated.”
Fumio Kishida visited Tepco’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last Sunday (20th) for an inspection, sparking speculation that emissions are regarding to begin.
After Japan announced the decision, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the Japanese government of “transferring the risk of nuclear pollution to the whole world and putting its own self-interest above the long-term well-being of all mankind” and “extremely selfish and extremely irresponsible.” , saying that Beijing has lodged stern representations.
In July this year, the General Administration of Customs of China banned the import of aquatic products from 10 prefectures in Japan, including Fukushima, and aquatic products from other regions that are not on the list must also undergo testing and certification before importing.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced on Tuesday that all aquatic products, including live, frozen and dried products, from ten prefectures including Tokyo and Fukushima Prefecture in Japan will be banned from being imported into Hong Kong from Thursday.
Comprehensive 10 cities: Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama.
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Japan’s Fukushima nuclear wastewater discharge is imminent
The South Korean government said Seoul saw “no scientific or technical problems” with Japan’s emissions plan, but that did not mean it agreed or supported the emissions plan.
South Korea’s opposition party slammed Japan’s emissions plan as “selfish and irresponsible”.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs once stated in July that the delegation had visited Japan three times to understand the process of wastewater discharge, and would continue to urge Japan to carry out discharge operations in compliance with international standards and regulations.
In 2011, a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake inundated three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing core meltdowns. The event is considered the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
The Japanese government said the discharge of nuclear wastewater was a necessary step in the lengthy decommissioning process of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The plant is located on Japan’s east coast, regarding 220 kilometers (137 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Local fishermen expressed concern that the discharge of the wastewater would affect their livelihoods.
The waste water to be discharged includes the groundwater that infiltrated into the nuclear power plant following the explosion of the nuclear power plant unit, as well as the seawater that was originally pumped to cool the unit.
TEPCO, the plant operator, has been filtering the water to remove more than 60 types of radioactive substances, but the water will not be completely radioactive because it still contains tritium and carbon-14, radioactive isotopes of hydrogen and carbon, which cannot be easily removed from the water remove.
Dr. Lu Binglin, chairman of the Hong Kong Nuclear Society, once analyzed to BBC Chinese: “The wastewater discharged from Fukushima now contains many so-called ‘transuranium’ in addition to some radioactive elements commonly found in nuclear power plant wastewater, such as tritium and carbon-14. Radioactive substances, such as plutonium, strontium, and cesium. In general, nuclear power plants will not emit such highly toxic radiation.”
A feature article published by the international environmental protection organization Greenpeace in May 2021 pointed out that the wastewater from general nuclear power plants does not directly contact the core fuel rods. This is the fundamental difference between Fukushima nuclear wastewater and general nuclear power plant wastewater.
The article also cites a paper published in August 2020 by Dr Ken O Buesseler, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, USA, stating that it is estimated that the existing Fukushima nuclear wastewater The total amount of radiation from radioactive tritium is as high as 1000 terabeck.
However, the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, emphasized that the nuclear wastewater will be treated by the “Advanced Liquid Treatment System” (ALPS, also translated as multi-nuclear species removal equipment), and then passed through the subsea tunnel from one kilometer discharged offshore. ALPS is said to be able to filter a variety of radioactive materials, except tritium.
Experts don’t think the emissions pose a danger unless they’re consumed in large quantities because they emit very low levels of radiation.
Tokyo has previously said the wastewater to be released into the Pacific Ocean has been mixed with seawater and contains safe levels of tritium and carbon-14.
After the Japanese government announced its emissions decision, protesters in Tokyo held a rally outside the prime minister’s residence, urging the government to stop emissions.
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