Japan’s government plans to begin releasing treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years, according to officials.
The plan has long been expected but delayed for years due to safety worries and some protest backlash. Cabinet ministers along with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the ocean release was the most realistic option for disposing of the water, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price announced on Tuesday.
Steadily accumulating water has been stored in tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant since 2011, when a massive earthquake and tsunami damaged its reactors and their cooling water became contaminated and started leaking. The plant’s storage capacity will be full late next year, with nowhere but the ocean to dump the 1.25 million tons of radioactive water.
Part of the plan is finding a solution to remove and safely store 880 tons of highly radioactive uranium fuel.
JAPAN MIGHT RELEASE RADIOACTIVE WATER INTO OCEAN AS PART OF FUKUSHIMA CLEANUP
Environmental and fishing groups oppose the idea of dumping the water into the ocean, but it’s a proposal that would likely fall in line with global guidelines.
Within hours of the massive water dump announcement, protesters in Tokyo and Fukushima gathered outside government offices to demand the plan be halted and terminated, NPR reported.
Nearly 70% of the water in the tanks is contaminated beyond discharge limits but will receive additional filtering and dilution with seawater before its release. A preliminary estimate expects the gradual release of water to take nearly 40 years, but it will be completed before the plant is fully decommissioned.
Most of the radioactive isotopes have been removed using a complex filtration process, but the isotope tritium can’t be removed, so the water has been stored in huge tanks that will fill up by 2022, the BBC reported.
Koo Yun-cheol, minister of South Korea’s Office for Government Policy Coordination urged Japan to disclose its water treatment methods for safety verification.
While International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the ocean discharge was in line with international practice, but that “the large amount of water at the Fukushima plant makes it a unique and complex case.”
I welcome Japan’s announcement on how it will dispose of the treated water stored at #Fukushima nuclear power plant. @IAEAorg will work w/ ?? before, during & after the discharge of the water to help ensure this is carried out without an adverse impact on health & environment.1/2 pic.twitter.com/qLJxrPXCje
— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) April 13, 2021
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“We will work closely with Japan before, during, and after the discharge of the water,” Grossi added.
