THE JAPANESE government recently announced its plan to discharge more than one million tons of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean. This immense amount of radioactive wastewater is from a nuclear accident that occurred at the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011. The government has painted its decision as a “necessary evil,” but several environmentalist groups and industries negatively affected by the move have criticized this plan; they argue that Japan is ignoring human rights and international maritime law. Despite local and international pressure from neighboring countries such as Russia, China, and South Korea, the Japanese government remains determined to carry out its plan.

The Fukushima nuclear plant incident

   Almost a decade ago, the most severe nuclear accident since the late 1980s occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The incident was classified as Level 7, the highest level, on the International Nuclear Event Scale, and was caused by a tsunami, following the 9.0-magnitude Tōhoku earthquake on March 11, 2011 [1].

   The nuclear plant’s active reactors automatically shut down and the emergency diesel generators automatically switched on once the earthquake was detected. These provided electrical power to pumps that kept coolant circulating through the reactors’ cores to remove decay heat [2]. Following the earthquake was a tsunami over 14 meters high that breached the seawall of the plant. The lower parts of the reactors were flooded, which caused emergency generators to shut down and stop supplying power to the coolant-circulating pumps. The loss of the coolant in the reactors led to three nuclear meltdowns, three hydrogen explosions, and the release of radioactive contaminants.

   During and after the incident, over 300,000 tons of water contaminated with radiation were released into the Pacific Ocean to free up storage for even more radioactive water [3]; the least radioactive water released was still 100 times over the legal limit for drinkability. Despite this, it took two years for the power plant’s management to admit that the radioactive water had leaked into the groundwater. In 2013, water treatment to purify the radioactive water began. It is estimated that at least another 20-30 years is needed to decontaminate the affected areas and decommission the plant.

   Recently, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Japan’s decision to discharge almost 1.3 million tons of wastewater over 30 years [4]. This water was used to cool the melted reactors and is currently stored in water tanks at the plant. The Japanese government has defended its decision, saying that the plant will run out of land space for additional water tanks by 2022. Officials have tried to soothe public and local concerns by pledging to dilute the wastewater to drinkable standards before it is dumped into the Pacific Ocean. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has backed the Japanese nuclear waste plan, stating that dumping wastewater in the ocean is “not something new” and “not a scandal.”

South Korea’s take

   In a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador to Korea, Koichi Aiboshi, President Moon vehemently protested Japan’s decision. The Korean government, which plans to bring this issue to the attention of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, is not alone in its resistance. President Moon’s protests are being echoed by a myriad of people and industries, including the local fishing industry in Korea [5]. The $9 billion industry has expressed concerns that people will avoid buying seafood when Tokyo releases the contaminated water in the Pacific. The fishing industry was negatively affected by the 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima; to avoid a repeat of history, the fishing industry is urging the Korean government and international organizations to put pressure on Japan. A maritime research institute in Germany has warned that the discharged nuclear waste could reach Jeju Island in “200 days” and the East Sea in “280 days.” Japan has cast doubt on this claim, stating that releasing nuclear waste at a “reduced density” will not pose a problem to the water of any country [6]. Regardless of Japan’s reassurances, Won Hee-ryong, the Jeju Governor, has vowed to have the island file a lawsuit in Korean, Japanese, and international courts, saying that his constituents will not “tolerate a single drop of contaminated water from Fukushima.”

   South Korean officials have also cited the Japanese government’s past statements to make Japanese officials reconsider their decision. A 1993 report from Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization, exposed Russia for dumping over 900 tons of nuclear waste into the East Sea, a move that angered the Japanese fishing industry. Japan lobbied against Russia’s actions and rallied support for its position from the international community; in response to Japan’s protests, the London Convention in November of the same year passed a resolution against the dumping of nuclear waste.

   Tokyo, however, has brushed off Korea’s criticism, stating that the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the owner of the Fukushima nuclear plant, will use the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) to reduce the radioactivity of the wastewater to “safe levels” before it is released into the Pacific Ocean [7]. Critics, however, have pointed out that there are no established “safe” levels of radioactivity. Moreover, a recent Greenpeace report stated that the treated water in the tanks at the plant contains at least 62 radioactive materials in addition to tritium that are above emission standards. According to the report, over 70% of the “treated” water needs to be processed again.

How radioactive is radioactive water?

   Korean media has criticized the Japanese government for creating an alternative narrative by only mentioning tritium as a potential cause of concern; in doing so, Japanese officials are attempting to divert attention from other more dangerous materials present in the wastewater [8]. For example, Tokyo only admitted that the wastewater contains carbon-14 after Greenpeace released a report on the radioactivity of the wastewater. According to the report, the ALPS is incapable of removing carbon-14 even though Japan claims otherwise. The ALPS is not capable of diluting all radioactive material in the water; this is largely because TEPCO refused to upgrade their liquid processing technology despite offers from a US supplier to provide technology that can dilute radioactive water to almost pre-contamination levels. The Japanese government has failed to underscore the danger of carbon-14 to its citizens and the international community; this radioactive material has a half-life of 5,730 years and is known to cause cellular and genetic impairment.

   Moreover, critics point out that the jury is not out on tritium either, despite the Japanese government’s best efforts to soothe fears; the IAEA and the Japanese government use models that do not take the overall concentration of tritium into account; once a large enough amount of tritium is dumped in the water, the isotope will be able to bind to other molecules, negatively affecting the food chain including plants, fish, and humans. And in addition to carbon-14 and tritium, strontium-90 has also been found in wastewater. Strontium-90, which can cause bone cancer and leukemia, is found at the Fukushima plant 110 times that of the legal limit; but the ALPS cannot dilute strontium-90 properly, and the Japanese government has omitted any mention of strontium-90 in their official documents.

   The IAEA still maintains that as long as contamination levels are lowered to meet certain safety guidelines, the wastewater poses no risk to the environment or people [9]. According to Greenpeace, however, the safety guidelines cited by the IAEA are “skewed to benefit the nuclear industry,” and no rigid “limits” are placed on the “total amount” of radioactive materials. While the radioactive water can be diluted enough to meet these man-made and distorted guidelines, it does not stop radioactive material from entering and accumulating in the ocean [10].

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   While Japan has presented their dumping plan as the “most realistic” option and “unavoidable in order to achieve Fukushima’s recovery,” critics have suggested that there are other solutions that Japan could have explored in lieu of this plan. Japan has declined to consider using the land surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant for storage of extra wastewater, even though the surrounding land is uninhabitable and readily available for use. As of now, Japan plans to implement its decision to discharge over one million tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean in the next two years.

[1] BBC News

[2] Decay heat: Heat released as a result of radioactive decay

[3] BBC News

[4] Insider

[5] CGTN

[6] The Hankyoreh 

[7] Korea Times

[8] Greenpeace

[9] Korea JoongAng Daily

[10] Korea Times