On July 3rd, after a two-year review, Japan received approval from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.) to release treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was wrecked during the 2011 tsunami, into the Pacific Ocean, according to Reuters.
“We have to recognize that such a thing [the treated water being released into the ocean] has not happened before,” I.A.E.A. chief Rafael Grossi told Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, adding that the I.A.E.A. would station staff at the Fukushima plant to supervise the release, according to Reuters. Grossi also said that Japan would have final say on the release, which is projected to span between 30 and 40 years.
Local residents are worried about the potential ramifications of the wastewater release, and local fishers are concerned that the plan would further threaten the reputation of the fishing industry – a petition against the plan has garnered over 250,000 signatures in areas around the plant since the proposal. A survey conducted with the Japanese public in March found that although 51% of respondents supported the wastewater release plan, 41% opposed it, says C.N.N.
The plan has also found critics abroad: China and some other neighbouring countries have raised concerns about the potential impact of the plan on the marine environment and public health, with protests being held outside the Japanese embassy in South Korea. In a statement from its embassy in Japan, China said that the I.A.E.A. report should not be considered a “pass” for the water release to go forward.
Still, Reuters says, the Japanese government has pushed forward with the plan to release the treated water.
“Japan will continue to provide explanations to the Japanese people and to the international community in a sincere manner based on scientific evidence and with a high level of transparency,” said Prime Minister Kishida.
In March 2011, the Tōhoku earthquake – the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan – and its subsequent tsunami resulted in the deaths of over 19,700 people. The earthquake also caused the Fukushima nuclear accident, in which, triggered by the natural disaster, three of the Fukushima nuclear power plant’s reactors melted down and radioactive water was discharged from Fukushima, causing over 154,000 people to be evacuated from a 12-mile radius of the plant.
Since the accident, new water has been pumped into the plant to cool fuel debris in the reactors, while concurrently ground and rainwater have also leaked into the same area, creating more radioactive wastewater that needs to be contained and treated, C.N.N. explains. However, the plant is now running out of space for the water, and officials say that more containment units cannot be built, creating a need for the water to be removed.
According to N.B.C., the radioactive water has been filtered in the years since the accident to remove most of the radioactive elements, save for tritium, which is an isotope of hydrogen that cannot be removed from water. Before it is released into the Pacific, the treated water will be diluted to ensure that the levels of tritium released stay significantly below internationally approved levels. In presentations to Chinese journalists in June, Japanese officials said, that given the decades-long timeline for the release of the water, the concentration of tritium being released into the environment would be on par with or lower than the amount that other states, including China, allow.
Nonetheless, many scientists remain unassured. Robert H. Richmond, director of a marine laboratory at the University of Hawai’i and a scientist working with the Pacific Island Forum to assess the wastewater release plan, called the project “ill-advised” and said that the ocean shouldn’t be treated like a “dumping ground.” In response to the claim that the levels of tritium would meet international standards, Richmond said that “other people’s bad behavior” shouldn’t be an excuse to release more wastewater into the ocean.
Though I.A.E.A. has deemed the plan “safe,” clear concerns remain, both within Japan and from neighbouring states. The dangers of nuclear waste, and, indeed, nuclear energy in general, are some of the most pressing and well-known of the modern era. Given public anxiety and the lingering questions about its impact on the environment, the wastewater release is not the appropriate way to handle Fukushima’s contaminated water – at least not at this time. It would be best to hold off until these questions can be answered more conclusively and to allow time to educate the public. Furthermore, more time to research the release’s potential effects will only help Japan defend the plan to its neighbours, should the nation decide to go through with it in the future. Japan should not damage its relations with other states, or with its own people, for the sake of bartering the ocean on results which cannot yet be confidently assured. The potential effects of radiation are too dangerous to play guessing games with.