More than 1 million tonnes of polluted water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant decided to throw into the sea the government of Japan, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced today, provoking the anger of Japanese fishermen and locals and the concern of neighboring countries.
The Suga government took this decision ten years after the worst nuclear disaster in the country, which occurred at its nuclear plant. Fukushima after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.
The decision puts an end to the debate over the past seven years on how the authorities would treat polluted water from rain, groundwater and injections needed to cool the reactor cores into a melt. ΑΜΠΕ.
The process of dumping water into the sea will begin in about two years and is expected to take decades, said the Japanese government and the management company of the Tokyo Electric Power nuclear power plant.
The water should be treated to remove harmful isotopes and diluted so that international standards are not violated before being dumped into the sea, she assured.
Tokyo Electric Power has stored more than 1.2 million tons of water in more than 1,000 huge tanks at the nuclear plant. According to the company, the tanks are going to start filling in 2022, although local officials and some experts have a different opinion.
Following the severe damage to three of the six nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plant after the 2011 earthquake, Tokyo Electric Power is constantly injecting water into them to cool the nuclear fuel that was in danger of melting.
Radioactive contaminated water is processed, but tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, cannot be removed from the water.
The Japanese government and the management company claim that tritium is not harmful to humans, as long as its concentration is low.
However, the Citizens’ Committee on Nuclear Energy, based in Tokyo, said in a statement that the government “should strictly avoid leaving tritium in the environment as it is still a radioactive material”.
She also expressed her opposition to the government’s plans Confederation of Japanese Fishermenn, with its leader Hiroshi Kisi declaring that “it is completely unacceptable. We expressed our strong protest (to the government) “.
Kisi had talks with Suga last week, ahead of the announcement of the government’s decision, and told the prime minister that the Confederation was completely against the move.
Groups of citizens and some experts also criticized the Japanese government for not adequately explaining its plan to the public and for not trying to find a mutually acceptable solution.
THE Greenpeace of Japan “strongly condemns the Tokyo decision, as it” completely ignores the human rights and interests of the people of Fukushima, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region, “he said.
Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs South Korea invited the Japanese ambassador to Koichi Aibosi to protest Tokyo’s decision, broadcast the Japanese Kyodo News.
Ku Yoon Cheol, the South Korean minister responsible for coordinating the government’s work, said Seoul was strongly opposed to Japan’s decision.
And China has expressed concern.
“THE China “It expresses its deep concern to the Japanese side through the diplomatic channel, calling on Japan to manage the issue of discharging water from the Fukushima nuclear plant in a prudent and responsible manner,” said Xi Lizian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
“This measure is” extremely irresponsible and will blatantly damage public health and safety at the international level and the vital interests of neighboring countries, “he said in a press release posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website. He added that Tokyo should refrain from dumping contaminated water into the sea until it has secured the consent of all other countries with a legitimate interest and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
For his part State Department issued a statement stating that Japan “It has been transparent about its decision and seems to have adopted an approach that is in line with universally accepted nuclear safety standards.”
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