TOKYO (AP) – The Japanese government announced on Tuesday that it will begin releasing treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant in the Pacific Ocean in two years. It is a movement that is fiercely opposed to fishermen, residents and neighbors of Japan.
The decision, long speculated but delayed for years due to security concerns and protests, came during a meeting of cabinet ministers who approved the release of the ocean as the best option.
The accumulated 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 was contaminated and began to leak. The plant’s storage capacity will be full by the end of next year.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the release of the ocean is the most realistic option and that the removal of water is needed to complete the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant, which has been in place for decades. He said the government will work to ensure water is safe and help local agriculture, fishing and tourism.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., and government officials say the tritium, which is not harmful in small amounts, cannot be removed from the water, but all other selected radionuclides can be reduced to release levels. Some scientists say the long-term impact on marine life from exposure to low doses to such large volumes of water is unknown.
The government emphasizes water safety, calling it “treated”, not “radioactive”, even if radionuclides can only be reduced to disposable levels, not zero. The amount of radioactive material remaining in the water is unknown.
Releasing water into the ocean has been described as the most realistic solution by a government group that has been discussing how to dispose of water for nearly seven years. Last year’s report mentioned evaporation as a less desirable option.
According to the basic plan adopted by ministers on Tuesday, TEPCO will start releasing water in about two years after building a facility and compiling discharge plans that meet safety requirements. He said the removal of water cannot be postponed and is needed to improve the plant’s environment so that residents can live there safely.
Residents, fisheries officials and environmental groups have issued statements denouncing the decision as ignoring the safety and health of the environment and further affecting the image and economy of Fukushima.
Hiroshi Kishi, president of Japan’s Fisheries Cooperatives, said the decision was made less than a week after meeting with Suga to “trample” on all Japanese fishing operators.
Local fishing has just returned to full exploitation after a decade in which their catch was for testing purposes only and is struggling due to declining demand.
Protesters gathered outside the prime minister’s office to demand the removal of the plan.
TEPCO says its 1.37 million tonne water storage capacity will be full by the fall of 2022. The area now filled with storage tanks must also be used for new buildings needed to remove molten fuel from the reactors. and for other decommissioning works in the following years.
In the decade since the tsunami disaster, water designed to cool the nuclear material has constantly escaped from damaged primary insulation vessels in the basements of reactor buildings. To compensate for the loss, more water was pumped into the reactors to continue cooling the molten fuel. The water is also pumped and treated, some of which is recycled as cooling water, and the rest stored in 1,020 tanks that now hold 1.25 million tonnes of radioactive water.
These tanks, which occupy a large space at the plant, interfere with the safe and steady progress of decommissioning, said Economy and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama. The tanks could also be damaged and leaked in the event of another strong earthquake or tsunami, the report said.
About 70% of the water in the tanks is contaminated beyond the discharge limits, but will be filtered again and diluted with seawater before being released, the report said. According to a preliminary estimate, the gradual release of water will take almost 40 years, but will be completed before the plant is completely decommissioned.
The President of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Japan, Toyoshi Fuketa, has repeatedly called for the discharge of the ocean, saying that a controlled release of properly treated water would not cause any harm to humans or the environment.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a video that the discharge of the ocean was in line with international practice, although “the large amount of water in the Fukushima plant makes it a unique and complex case.”
He said the IAEA will fully support Japan in monitoring the environment to ensure the safety of water discharge, transparency and trust in and out of the country.
China and South Korea reacted strongly to Tuesday’s decision.
Koo Yun-cheol, the minister of South Korea’s government policy coordination office, said the plan was “absolutely unacceptable” and called on Japan to disclose how water is treated and its safety checked. South Korea has banned seafood imports from parts of Japan since 2013 and could increase those steps.
China has criticized Japan’s decision as “extremely irresponsible”, saying it did not take into account the health problems of neighboring countries.
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Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung of Seoul, South Korea, contributed to the report.