Fisherman Haruo Ono’s fishing boats are pictured at Tsurushihama Fishing Port, Shinchi-machi of Fukushima Prefecture, some 60 kms north of the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on August 21, 2023.
Philip Fong | Afp | Getty Images
Japan is predicted to start releasing an enormous amount of treated radioactive water from the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, a highly controversial move that has drawn sharp criticism from neighboring countries.
The approaching water release comes greater than a decade after Japan was rocked by the second-worst nuclear disaster in history. A large earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 destroyed the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which is situated on Japan’s east coast, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of the capital Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said earlier this week that the country plans to discharge roughly 1.3 million metric tons of treated wastewater — enough to fill about 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools — from the wrecked Fukushima power plant into the sea from Thursday, depending on weather conditions.
Japan’s government has repeatedly said the discharge of the treated water is protected and the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has endorsed the move. The International Atomic Energy Agency said in early July that Tokyo’s plans were consistent with international standards and can have a “negligible” impact on people and the environment. The method will take many years to complete.
Neighboring countries are removed from comfortable, nevertheless.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (C) speaks during a gathering with representatives of the Inter-Ministerial Council for Contaminated Water, Treated Water and Decommissioning Issues and the Inter-Ministerial Council Concerning the Continuous Implementation of the Basic Policy on Handling of ALPS Treated Water, at Prime Minister’s Office, on August 22, 2023, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Zuma Press/Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Rodrigo Reyes Marin | Zuma Press | Pool | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Local fishing groups and U.N. human rights experts have voiced their concerns about the potential threat to the marine environment and public health, while campaigners say that not all possible impacts have been studied.
Japan says the means of releasing the filtered and diluted water is a vital step of decommissioning the plant and that a comparatively swift solution is required because the storage tanks holding the treated water will soon reach their capability.
Regionally, China has emerged as one among the fiercest opponents to Japan’s plans.
‘Extremely selfish and irresponsible’
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday accused Tokyo of being “extremely selfish and irresponsible” by pressing ahead with the disposal of the water, adding that the ocean ought to be treated as a typical good for humanity “not a sewer for Japan’s nuclear-contaminated water.”
“China strongly urges Japan to stop its wrongdoing, cancel the ocean discharge plan, communicate with neighboring countries with sincerity and good will, eliminate the nuclear-contaminated water in a responsible manner and accept rigorous international oversight,” Wang said at a news conference.
A spokesperson for Japan’s Embassy in London didn’t respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee, meanwhile, “strongly opposes” the discharge of wastewater from the Fukushima power plant. Responding to Japan’s announcement, Hong Kong announced import curbs on some Japanese food products.
South Korean protesters take part in a rally against Japanese government’s decision to release treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, on August 22, 2023 in Seoul, South Korea.
Chung Sung-jun | Getty Images News | Getty Images
South Korea, at times a lone voice of regional support to Japan, said it sees no scientific problem with the plan to release the treated water. It made clear in an announcement issued on Tuesday, nevertheless, that the government “doesn’t necessarily agree with or support the plan.”
A whole lot of activists in South Korea had gathered in the capital of Seoul earlier this month to rally against Japan’s plan to eliminate the treated water into the ocean.
Each China and South Korea have banned fish imports from around Fukushima.
‘A complete non-issue’
Nigel Marks, an associate professor at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, said the Fukushima water problem boils down to tritium — a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that happens naturally in the environment and is released as a part of the routine operation of nuclear power plants.
“Tritium releases far higher than that planned at Fukushima have been happening for around sixty years with an ideal safety record,” Marks told CNBC via email.
It “poses the query as to how the Fukushima water became such a PR nightmare, on condition that from a radiation safety perspective the tritium is basically harmless,” he continued. “The underlying problem is that the release sounds bad. The standard person is not aware that their very own body is radioactive, nor have they got a way of scale of how much radiation is loads, nor how much is little.”
“At this point science needs to step in and have a say — in spite of everything, tritium is produced in the upper atmosphere each day; actually, one 12 months of Fukushima water has the same amount of tritium as 4 hours of rainfall across the Earth,” Marks said.
“Fundamentally because of this the Fukushima water is a complete non-issue — there may be already a small amount of tritium around us (harmlessly doing nothing) and the tiny extra bit won’t matter one jot.”
Fishing groups in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines have all criticized the release of treated wastewater from the nuclear plant, fearing that it could affect regional resources and the livelihood of coastal communities.
Analysts at environmental campaign group Greenpeace said they were “deeply disenchanted and outraged” by Japan’s decision to release treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
“As an alternative of engaging in an honest debate about this reality, the Japanese government has opted for a false solution – many years of deliberate radioactive pollution of the marine environment – during a time when the world’s oceans are already facing immense stress and pressures,” said Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist at Greenpeace East Asia.
“That is an outrage that violates the human rights of the people and communities of Fukushima, and other neighboring prefectures and the wider Asia-Pacific region.”