- Japan has approved a plan to put wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
- The water was treated, and now experts say it contains minimal radioactive material.
- The release, set for 2023, is the latest move to address the aftermath of a 2011 crash.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Wastewater used to cool the Fukushima nuclear reactor will be released into the ocean after treatment, Japanese officials announced on Tuesday.
It is part of the country’s plan to dismantle the power station that was destroyed in a tsunami in 2011, causing one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.
Japan has previously warned that space is running low to contain more than 1 million tons of treated contaminated water in storage tanks on site.
The release of water into the ocean is an “inevitable task,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said. According to the plan, the water will start to release within two years.
The water is first filtered to remove most nuclear pollutants, but tritium, a form of hydrogen, cannot be removed from the wastewater.
The release of the treated wastewater into the ocean would dilute the particle to less than the standards set by the World Health Organization, Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said.
According to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, tritium is relatively harmless in small concentrations, but as the concentration of the particle increases, so does the risk of cancer.
“The decision of the Japanese government is in line with practice worldwide, although the large amount of water at the Fukushima plant makes it a unique and complex issue,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
The IAEA, an independent international organization that provides technical support for nuclear safety and advises the Japanese government, said controlled water release ‘is frequently used by operating nuclear power plants around the world’.
China and South Korea admonished Japan after the announcement. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the ruling “unilateral” and “highly irresponsible” and said it would have a “serious” impact on human health. ‘
An annotated map shows the location of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Insider / Google Maps
South Korea also condemned the decision and called it “completely unacceptable” in a press conference on Tuesday, reports The Korea Herald.
Fisheries also rejected the decision, saying it could further damage the image of the quality of fish caught in the Fukushima area. Local fisheries have just resumed operations after a decade of fishing for testing purposes only, reports The Associated Press.
The US seems to have welcomed the move. In a statement, the State Department said that Japan “apparently adopts an approach according to the globally accepted nuclear safety standards.”
“We thank Japan for its transparent efforts in its decision,” said Foreign Minister Antony Blinken. said in a tweet.
—Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) 13 April 2021