Japan had decided to gradually release tons of treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the ocean after the cabinet meeting early Tuesday, April 13.
The plan was to start releasing the treated water in two years despite having fierce opposition from the local fishing crew and concerns from China and neighbouring countries.
Activists participate in an anti-nuclear protest outside the Parliament building in Tokyo, Japan, on March 7. Image source via AFP
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that the wastewater disposal had been long delayed, but the storage is expected to run out by next year. The disposal of wastewater is a problem that cannot be avoided, added Yoshihide.
The Japanese government ensures that every measure will be taken to guarantee the safety of the treated water and address misinformation.
The Fukushima crisis occurred in March 2011 in a huge earthquake and tsunami that ripped northeastern Japan and killed more than 19,000 people. The meltdown of half of the plant's nuclear reactor was the worst seen since Chernobyl.
Cooling water is pumped through the remaining reactor to keep them from melting. The water is then sent through a filtration system that is able to remove all of the radioactive material except for tritium.
Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen that is said not harmful to human health in small doses. Tritium can travel about six millimetres (6mm) in the air, while a typical beta particle cannot penetrate through human skin. Tritium has the potential to be hazardous to human health if ingested or exposed in high dose.
The radiation dose from one ton of this water gives a dose of approximately 4 mSv, about the average annual background dose to everyone in America, and less than a single chest CT scan which is 7 mSv.
There is about 1.25 million tons of wastewater stored in Fukushima, and it continued to accumulate at a rate of 170 tons a day. Concentrating it and containerising it actually causes more of a potential hazard to people and the environment, reported by James Conca on Forbes.
Other nuclear power plants worldwide routinely discharge treated wastewater containing tritium into the sea, and it has support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"Releasing into the ocean is done elsewhere. It's not something new. There is no scandal here," IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said last year.
However, the local fishing crews and officials opposed the plan as fearing the public boycotting consuming Fukushima seafood.
The U.S. State Department is not opposing this plan, releasing a statement saying, "in this unique and challenging situation, Japan has weighed the options and effects, has been transparent about its decision, and appears to have adopted an approach in accordance with globally accepted nuclear safety standards."
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told SCMP that they had requested the Japanese government to "adopt a responsible attitude" on radioactive material's environmental and safety impact. Zhao also stresses the importance of "disclosing relevant information in a voluntary, timely, strict, accurate, open and transparent manner, and make prudent decisions after full consultation with neighbouring countries."
