Japan releasing contaminated water of Fukushima would only create another disaster

“The idea of releasing the contaminated water before it has been entirely treated for radioactivity is completely unacceptable. For the Japanese government to make a unilateral decision about a multilateral matter that endangers the health of not only its own citizens but also the citizens of its neighbors is both irresponsible and immoral.”

The storage tanks for contaminated water from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown

Aug.15,2019

If Japan releases 1.1 million tons of water contaminated with high-level radioactivity from storage tanks at the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, that water could reach the east shore of South Korea within a year. That was the bottom line of a press conference held in South Korea on Aug. 14 by Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist with Greenpeace Germany.

The problem is that discharging the contaminated water isn’t some vague possibility, but the option favored by the Japanese government. Last October, Japan’s nuclear regulator said it would allow the water to be released, provided that it’s diluted first.

The idea of releasing the contaminated water before it has been entirely treated for radioactivity is completely unacceptable. For the Japanese government to make a unilateral decision about a multilateral matter that endangers the health of not only its own citizens but also the citizens of its neighbors is both irresponsible and immoral.

Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist with Greenpeace Germany, talks about the dangers of Japan’s decision to release radioactively contaminated water from the 2011 Fukushima disaster during a press conference in Seoul on Aug. 14.

It’s obvious that the contaminated water will be carried by sea currents to the East Sea, with harmful effect. A study has found that the levels of radiation in the East Sea more than doubled during the five years after contaminated water was released for a brief time in 2011, during the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The main reason the Japanese government hopes to discharge the contaminated water is cost. The massive amount of radioactive water produced since the 2011 accident at Fukushima is being stored in the reactor’s water tanks; at the current rate, they will overflow by March 2021. Attempting to skimp on the cost of building more tanks by releasing the contaminated water is the worst possible option, as it would trigger another catastrophe. According to Shaun Burnie, the only option is to build more water tanks while focusing on developing techniques for treating the radioactive particles.

The route by which contaminated water discharged by Japan would eventually reach the eastern shores of Korea.

With the Tokyo Olympics just one year away, the Japanese government is working overtime to promote the claim that it’s moved beyond the Fukushima disaster. First it announced that dishes for athletes will be prepared with crops grown at Fukushima, and then it selected a spot just 20km away from the accident as the starting point for the Olympic torch. That has prompted not only leading global media outlets but even domestic ones to run multiple stories concluding that the Fukushima area isn’t safe from radioactive materials. Japan needs to call off this rash marketing campaign, which jeopardizes the safety of Olympic athletes and audiences.

The South Korean government has announced that it will respond proactively to the issue of contaminated water at Fukushima. Some see this as another way to pressure Japan in the two countries’ ongoing economic dispute. But the two are separate issues. We hope the government will deal with this issue with a firm, and consistent, attitude.

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/905878.html

1 Comment »

Not to mention all the other radionuclides in the ocean from runoff and nuclear countries dumping their nuclear wastes into the oceans for years

Comment by Ken | August 17, 2019 | Reply

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