2023-08-24 15:13:12
Japan began this Thursday to dump contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific after being treated to remove most of the radioactive waste, a process that will last for several decades and that continues to generate protests inside and outside the country.
The spill began around 1:00 p.m. after the last checks were made regarding the water pumps and some valves were opened manually, as announced by the company responsible for the damaged power plant, TEPCO.
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“Each process must be carried out very firmly. Under the guidance of the Government, we will fulfill our responsibility,” said Junichi Matsumoto, head of the initiative, at a press conference where he also explained that the spill would stop if any type of anomaly was detected.
Photo where tons of water are stored
Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the operator of the plant, decided to proceed with the dumping this Thursday after making sure that the concentration of radioactive waste was within the stipulated and that there were no irregularities in its systems after the launch this Thursday by North Korea of an alleged space vehicle, which caused the momentary activation of the anti-missile alert in the south of the Japanese archipelago.
The spill began more than twelve years after the nuclear crisis caused by the earthquake and tsunami that shook this area of Japan in 2011, and is carried out after undergoing a purification process through a circuit called ALPS (Advanced System of Liquid Processing).
The Japanese Executive decided in 2021 to resort to controlled discharge into the sea as a way to get rid of the contaminated liquid that accumulates in nuclear facilities, where space is running out for the large tanks that store it, and what is considered a fundamental step to the dismantling of the plant.
Contaminated water is treated with the ALPS system, capable of completely removing 62 types of radioactive materials, with the exception of tritium and carbon-14.
Photo of protests over the decision to dump the water into the ocean
The dumping process will be supervised by the Japanese authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure that it meets safety standards.
According to TEPCO said this Thursday, after a recent analysis, it would have been verified that the tritium concentration is “far below” the national standard for the discharge to be carried out and “it has been confirmed that it has been diluted as expected “.
The IAEA itself, which has its own facilities at the plant to monitor the discharge, confirmed this Thursday that the level of tritium present in the water being discharged remains well below the set limit of 1,500 becquerels per liter.
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TEPCO will also send a ship to monitor the area and the water conditions, and announced that it will publish the data on its website in real time to “ensure transparency.”
The first discharge will last for 17 days and will consist of some 7,800 tons of water.
Photo of contaminated water storage tanks at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Due to the total accumulated volume (1.34 million tons) and the fact that it increases on a daily basis, it is expected that the spill will last for about 30 years.
There are protests inside and outside Japan
The national federation of fishing cooperatives maintains a firm rejection of this plan, arguing that the measure will prevent Fukushima fishermen from being able to rid themselves of the radioactive stigma that has hung over their catches since 2011.
Certain voices from the international scientific community and environmental organizations such as Greenpeace, which consider the safety guarantees presented insufficient, have also taken a stand against the dumping, as well as neighboring countries, especially China.
This same Thursday, various ecological and anti-nuclear citizen platforms called new demonstrations in different parts of Japan in rejection of the measure.
In South Korea, several citizen protests and another by the main opposition bloc, the liberal Democratic Party (PD), were also organized. Municipal and provincial governments across the country have promised to increase radiation controls on fish and shellfish.
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Beijing, for its part, announced on Thursday the suspension of the importation of fishery products of Japanese origin “to prevent the risk of radioactive contamination” due to the spill, after having urged Japan in previous days to cancel its plan.
Also expressing concern on Thursday about the possible impact of the measure were the Filipino fishermen’s union Pamalakaya and the Pacific Islands Forum (FIP).
EFE
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