Japan’s insistence on promoting the discharge of nuclear-polluted water into the sea is extremely selfish
2022-08-08 17:42:45Source: Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, August 8 (international observation) Japan insists on promoting the discharge of nuclear-polluted water into the sea and is extremely selfish
Xinhua News Agency reporter Hua Yi
Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company (referred to as TEPCO) recently officially launched the construction of the nuclear polluted water discharge facility at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which marks another step forward in Japan’s nuclear polluted water discharge plan.
Analysts pointed out that the Japanese government, out of selfish interests and despite domestic and foreign opposition, insisted on pushing for a long-term plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean in the spring of 2023, which is extremely selfish.
Protesters protest against the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear program into the sea outside the prime minister’s residence in Tokyo, Japan, April 13, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Xiaoyi)
selfishness
Affected by the “3.11” Great Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, the cores of Units 1 to 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of TEPCO melted down, resulting in a Level 7 nuclear accident, the highest level in the International Nuclear Event Scale. After the accident, TEPCO continued to inject water into the containment shells of Units 1 to 3 to cool the cores. In addition to the continuous inflow of groundwater and rainwater, about 1.3 million tons of nuclear-contaminated water have been stored in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The rate of increase of 140 tons per day.
TEPCO claimed that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has a limited area, and there is no more space for the construction of a large number of water storage tanks. The existing storage capacity of 1.37 million tons of water storage tanks will be used up this autumn. There is a risk of leakage of a large amount of nuclear-contaminated water, so nuclear-contaminated water has to be filtered, purified, diluted and discharged into the sea.
For these reasons given by TEPCO, Japan’s environmental protection organization pointed out that a large amount of land near the nuclear power plant has been idle due to nuclear leakage, and water storage tanks can be added to the expansion land outside the nuclear power plant. However, the Japanese government and TEPCO rejected this plan on the grounds that it would take a lot of time for communication and coordination and would require a larger workload. Environmentalists pointed out that the move is not impossible, but that the Japanese government and TEPCO do not want to do it, and they put their own interests first.
At the beginning of considering dealing with the issue of nuclear-contaminated water, an expert group organized by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry proposed five options. The Japanese side said that the two options of discharging into the sea and evaporating into the atmosphere are the “most practical solutions”, and finally chose the “shortest time and the least cost” option of discharging into the sea, intending to transfer the risk to the whole country. world.
Protesters protest against the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear program into the sea outside the prime minister’s residence in Tokyo, Japan, April 13, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Xiaoyi)
credit worries
The nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant contains various radioactive substances such as cesium, strontium, and tritium. The Japanese government and TEPCO said they would use filtering equipment called “multi-nuclide removal equipment” to filter out 62 radioactive substances, including cesium, except for tritium, which is difficult to remove from water. TEPCO believes that tritium is contained in normal waste water discharged from nuclear power plants, so it can discharge tritium-contaminated water.
Experts pointed out that TEPCO tried to confuse the concept, confuse the waste water discharged during normal operation of the nuclear power plant that meets international standards and the nuclear-contaminated water with complex composition produced after the core meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
At the same time, the actual effect of “multi-nuclide removal equipment” is not as ideal as what TEPCO claims. Japanese media have found that in addition to tritium, there are many radioactive substances in the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water that exceed the standard. TEPCO also admitted that more than 70% of the nuclear-contaminated water treated by “multi-nuclide removal equipment” does not meet the discharge standard, and it is necessary to Filter again.
The reliability of the “multinuclide removal equipment” itself is also questionable. In September 2021, Japan’s “Asahi Shimbun” reported that 24 of the 25 filters used by this equipment to absorb radioactive substances were damaged, and the damage occurred two years ago, but TEPCO did not deal with it in time. .
The South Korean non-governmental environmental protection organization “Environmental Movement United” said that TEPCO claimed to be able to filter out 62 kinds of radioactive substances other than tritium before discharging into the sea, but this is by no means the truth. Once seawater is polluted, it is difficult to restore.
From the fact that the core meltdown was concealed at the beginning of the Fukushima nuclear accident, to the bow and apology for concealing and omitting reports for more than ten years, TEPCO’s credit stains are numerous, and its “nuclear credit” has long since gone bankrupt.
On April 14, 2021, South Koreans rallied outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul to protest against the Japanese government’s discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. (Published by Xinhua News Agency, photo by Xu Ruxi)
multiple objections
The Japanese government and TEPCO insisted on promoting the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, causing strong opposition in Japan and neighboring countries. A non-governmental organization in Fukushima held a protest outside the Fukushima prefectural government on the 3rd to oppose the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. Chiyo Oda, head of the civil society organization “Don’t Pollute the Ocean! Citizens’ Meeting,” said the organization opposes the discharge of nuclear-polluted water into the sea.
After TEPCO announced the official start of construction of the nuclear-polluted water discharge project, a Japanese environmental protection organization issued a protest statement on the 4th, saying that the Japanese government and TEPCO had made “if they do not get the understanding of the relevant personnel, they will not The Japanese government made a decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea in April last year, which was to make the discharge into the sea a “fait accompli” without consulting relevant parties.
On July 22, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission, Japan’s nuclear regulator, officially endorsed TEPCO’s nuclear-polluted water discharge plan. Masanobu Sakamoto, president of the Japan National Fisheries Cooperative Federation, said that the discharge of nuclear-polluted water into the sea has not been understood by the people and fishery practitioners across the country.
Greenpeace Seoul Office said that the danger of nuclear-contaminated water being discharged into the sea is very obvious. In the case of alternatives such as long-term storage of nuclear-contaminated water, the Japanese government’s decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water to the sea violates the consensus of the international community. Precautions and other treatment principles. (Participating reporter: Lu Rui)