2023-07-06 22:07:03
Tokyo’s plan to remove more than 1.2 billion tons of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant and dump it into the ocean received the go-ahead from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday (07.04.2023), because the disposal method is “consistent” with international safety standards. The IAEA report also concluded that the discharged water would have “negligible radiological impact” on the environment.
The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Co, TEPCO, the operator of the plant that was paralyzed by the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, welcomed the IAEA’s backing.
While most Japanese citizens seem to have concluded that the radioactive water has been released of virtually all radioactivity and that dumping it into the Pacific Ocean is the most appropriate step, neighboring countries disagree.
Opposition politicians from South Korea, for example, demonstrated outside the country’s National Assembly on Thursday.
China expresses its anger
The Chinese ambassador to Tokyo, Wu Jianghao, stressed at a press conference on Tuesday that “there is no precedent where water contaminated in a nuclear accident is released into the sea.”
Wu noted that China has banned imports of all food products from 10 prefectures in northeast Japan, the hardest hit by the meltdown of the three reactors at the Fukushima plant.
environmental concerns
Environmental groups in the region also demonstrated against the plan on Wednesday, demanding in Seoul that the IAEA report endorsing the Japanese government’s plan be withdrawn. Greenpeace accuses Tokyo of violating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Hajime Matsukubo, secretary general of the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center in Tokyo, echoed concerns over the radioactive water spill, saying several alternative solutions were available and feasible for TEPCO.
“We do not fully agree with this decision and believe that there were better options available to the government,” he told DW. “There is no reason why more tanks could not have been built on the site, underground reservoirs could have been built and better treatment systems introduced to remove more radionuclides,” he listed.
“Instead, they have chosen the easiest and cheapest option,” lamented Matsukubo. “I think this was always the plan, as releasing the water was always going to be less expensive than the alternatives,” she added.
IAEA, in the eye of the hurricane
For Matsukubo, the Japanese government is using the support of the IAEA to go ahead with the release of the water, almost certainly before the end of the summer, despite not having a clear roadmap for the final decommissioning of the nuclear plant.
The secretary general of the Tokyo Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center also questioned the independence of the IAEA, financed by countries that produce nuclear energy, and whose main task is to promote atomic energy.
A report issued by TEPCO in early June shows that more than 70 percent of the radioactive water to be released does not meet legal standards for radiation decontamination, even after being treated with the Advanced Liquid Processing System. (ALPS).
The company played down the data, saying that the water would go through the purification process until it met the required standards.
Either way, more than 12 years after the world’s second worst nuclear disaster, the Japanese hope that releasing treated radioactive water from on-site storage tanks will be another milestone in the protracted process of decommissioning the nuclear plant, which will lead to the least 40 years.
local opposition
“Local people and fishermen in Northeast Japan have always been against this plan because they believe it will seriously affect their business and way of life, but in other parts of Japan the feeling is that the maximum storage capacity has been reached. of water on site and there are few good options left,” said Hiromi Murakami, a professor of politics at Temple University’s Tokyo campus. In her opinion, TEPCO has a long way to go to restore public confidence.
(rmr/rml)
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