Japan to dump nuclear wastewater in haste, ignoring potential choices

People protest in opposition to the plan of the Japan authorities and TEPCO to launch the large radioactive water stockpile from Fukushima nuclear plant to the ocean, Tokyo, Japan, May 16, 2023. /CFP

Japan’s plan on dumping the handled nuclear wastewater is predicted to maneuver ahead because the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) endorsed the plan, saying it is in step with IAEA security requirements, on Tuesday.

The nation has evoked waves of doubts and issues over security because it introduced it could discharge the handled radioactive wastewater into the ocean final 12 months, a plan strongly opposed by native fishing communities and neighboring nations.

The Fukushima plant has saved round 1.3 million cubic meters of handled water. As the space for storing is about to expire, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has been dashing the plan to dump the wastewater into the ocean.

Although Japan repeatedly claimed the handled wastewater would meet the usual and be innocent to folks, there has already been an impression on marine life. Early this June, a report launched by the operator of the plant, TEPCO, confirmed the content material of Cs-137 (a radioactive aspect that could be a frequent byproduct in nuclear reactors) within the marine fish caught within the harbor of the plant was 180 occasions that of the usual most stipulated in Japan’s meals security regulation.

Even the system to launch the hazardous nuclide into the water was discovered broken, leaking radioactive contamination in 2021.

Chen Zhi, affiliate professor on the University of Science and Technology of China and in addition the manager director of Chinese Society of Radiation Protection, criticized the method of simply releasing the wastewater into the ocean as being too crude and easy. “It’s the crudest, simplest way, with lowest cost.”

He added that it isn’t legit to dump the radioactive water into the ocean. “No matter how much water there is, they shouldn’t just let it go into the sea.”

Ignoring options

Releasing the wastewater into the ocean isn’t the one approach. In reality, a number of approaches have been proposed.

Option 1: The wastewater will be poured into the two,500-meter-deep earth layers. 
Option 2: Diluting the radioactive wastewater and filtering the radioactive content material, then releasing it to the ocean 
Option 3: Vaporizing the contaminated water and releasing it by way of exhaust pipes into the ambiance. 
Option 4: Using electrolysis to resolve the wastewater after which releasing the generated hydrogen into the ambiance. 
Option 5: Mixing the contaminated water and cement into strong cement concrete after which burying it underground.

However, the federal government opted to launch the wastewater, which was the most affordable choice whereas coming with unknown penalties in a variety.

Tilman Ruff, a professor on the University of Melbourne, stated Japan’s choice to dump the wastewater is “an unfortunate regressive step.” He stated it is a Nineteenth-century (concept that) “dilution is the solution to pollution.” 

“It’s a problem (that) should be dealt with (in) a much more modern way,” he stated.

Chen stated the extent of radioactivity may improve sharply after dumping the water. “It can accumulate in the bodies of marine life, then go into the human body when they consume seafood. The radioactive content may have (an) impact on humans.”

Yasuro Kawai, a member of Japan’s Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCNE), stated mixing the wastewater with cement is price contemplating. “Hardening the cement mortar will make the radioactivity decay over hundreds or thousands of years, which is almost harmless.”

Mixed ideas of nuclear wastewater

In the face of worldwide doubts concerning the security of the wastewater, Japan insists that the purified “treated water” isn’t any completely different from the conventional discharged water from a nuclear energy plant.

Li Song, China’s everlasting consultant to the UN and different worldwide organizations, at an IAEA board of governors assembly held in June in Vienna, identified that Japan has adjusted the idea. 

In reality, the discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from Fukushima into the ocean is totally completely different from the conventional operation of nuclear energy crops.

The so-called handled nuclear wastewater that Japan insists on refers back to the wastewater produced by a nuclear energy plant throughout regular operation, the place the water doesn’t come into contact with radioactive supplies in nuclear reactors, whereas the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater got here into direct contact with radioactive supplies in the course of the accident and is very radioactive, which should be strictly saved and handled by a number of processes and evaluated by consultants earlier than it’s allowed to be discharged.

“The coast of Fukushima has the strongest ocean currents in the world. Ten years after the nuclear-contaminated water is discharged into the sea, the radionuclides will spread to the seas of the world. This move transfers the risk to all human beings,” a Chinese consultant as soon as stated to the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May.

Source: CGTN