THE Japan implemented today her controversial plan to dump used and then treated water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan into the Pacific Ocean, TEPCO, the company that runs the facility, announced.
The pumps were activated and the valves were opened for the waters to reach the sea.
These waters have been treated in order to clean them of most radioactive substances, but it was not possible to filter out tritium, which, however, is not considered dangerous for human health except in large concentrations.
The process is described as safe and harmless by Japanese authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which took over the task of overseeing the project and gave the go-ahead in July.
However, it causes strong reactions from environmental protection organizations, Japanese fishermen, as well as governments of countries in the region, especially China, according to international agencies and the Athens News Agency.
Beijing denounces the action as “selfish and irresponsible”.
THE China strongly criticized Japan today, denouncing a “selfish and irresponsible” action.
“China is categorically opposed and strongly condemns (this decision). It has formally protested to Japan, demanding that it put an end to this reprehensible action,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry responded in a statement.
“The ocean is humanity’s common good. Dumping the contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea is a highly selfish and irresponsible action that has no regard for the international public interest.”
In total, Japan plans to dump into the Pacific Ocean more than 1.3 million cubic meters of water that was until now stored at the site of the nuclear power plant.
They come from rainwater, groundwater and added water that was necessary to cool reactor cores that had begun to melt after the March 2011 tsunami that hit the country’s northeast coast.
“The Japanese government has not proven that these discharges are legitimate” or that they are harmless to the marine environment and human health, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates.
“What Japan is doing is transferring to the whole world the dangers (associated with these waters) and prolonging the pain (associated with the disaster) to future generations,” he said.
Source: News Beast
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