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fukushima nuclear disaster
Thousands of Liters of Radioactive Wastewater Leak in Fukushima Mishap
A Chinese official implored Japan to "face up to the concerns of its neighboring countries and the international community."
Feb 08, 2024
Thousands of liters of radioactive wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan leaked from the outdoor vent of a filtering device, the company that operates the facility said Wednesday.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said about 5,500 liters of both contaminated and filtered water leaked when a valve was left open during cleaning. The company, which said it discovered the leak on Wednesday morning, warned that some of the water—which is believed to contain 220 times the level of radioactivity required for government reporting—may have seeped into the ground.
"TEPCO has confirmed that there was no significant fluctuation in radiation measurements recorded at the site," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement. "The event does not pose any risk to the public and there is no environmental impact off-site."
The Fukushima plant, located about 150 miles northeast of Tokyo, was catastrophically damaged during the massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused meltdowns in three of the facility's reactors.
Last July, the IAEA approved a Japanese plan to gradually release more than 1 million metric tons of filtered Fukushima wastewater into the Pacific, despite years of warnings from environmentalists and widespread opposition by people in the region.
News of the leak prompted an angry response from the Chinese government.
"Japan's repeated accidents in the process of treating Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water have fully exposed the chaos and disorder of TEPCO's internal management," a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo said on Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post.
"The Japanese government's supervision measures are lacking and ineffective, which once again proves that the nuclear-contaminated water treatment equipment lacks long-term reliability," the official added.
Asserting that "the discharge of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea is related to the health of all mankind, the global marine environment, and international public interests," the spokesperson reiterated calls for Japan to "face up to the concerns of its neighboring countries and the international community."
The new leak follows the October 2023 accident at a separate Fukushima wastewater treatment facility in which four workers were sprayed with radioactive liquid waste while cleaning pipes. Two of the workers were briefly hospitalized for skin contamination, although none showed symptoms of radiation poisoning.
There have been regular demonstrations against the Fukushima wastewater dump in South Korea and China—two countries that, like many others with nuclear power plants, have discharged far greater quantities of treated radioactive wastewater into oceans and other bodies of water than Japan says it will release.
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Locals Alarmed as Japan Plans to Discharge Water From Fukushima Nuclear Plant This Week
"Nothing about the water release is beneficial to us," said a Japanese fisherman who lost his brother in the 2011 tsunami. "There is no advantage for us. None. It's all detrimental."
Aug 22, 2023
Local fishers, Greenpeace, and others shared fresh concerns Tuesday as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear facility into the Pacific Ocean may start as soon as Thursday, more than a dozen years after an earthquake caused a tsunami that triggered reactor meltdowns.
Over the next three decades, Japan plans to discharge about 1.34 million gallons of water—or enough to fill over 500 Olympic swimming pools—into the ocean after using an advanced liquid processing system (ALPS) to remove most radionuclides.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company said Tuesday that "as the entity responsible for the safe and steady decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, TEPCO is strictly abiding by the government's decision and request, and shall quickly make preparations to commence discharge with the utmost vigilance in accordance with the implementation plan."
Greenpeace Japan project manager Hisayo Takada declared that "we are deeply disappointed and outraged by the Japanese government's announcement," and stressed that the discharge decision has been made "despite concerns raised by fishermen, citizens, Fukushima residents, and the international community, especially in the Pacific region and neighboring countries."
Haruo Ono, a 71-year-old fisherman from Shinchimachi who lost his brother in the 2011 tsunami, toldAgence France-Presse: "Nothing about the water release is beneficial to us. There is no advantage for us. None. It's all detrimental."
"Fishermen are 100% against," Ono continued. "The sea is where we work. We make a living off of the sea, we're at the mercy of the sea. So if we don't protect the sea, who would?"
Takashi Nakajima, a 67-year-old who runs a supermarket in Sōma, Fukushima Prefecture that sells local seafood, said of the discharge plan, "It's like a scheme to release the water before public opposition can flare up."
Recalling when customers refused to sample local octopus in 2012, just after trial fishing began near the site of the nuclear disaster, Nakajima told Kyodo News, "Catch from the area won't sell, it will be a repeat of before."
As The Japan Times reported:
Tuesday's decision follows Kishida's meeting with the head of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, or Zengyoren, at the prime minister's Office on Monday in an attempt to gain the association's approval for the plan.
Zengyoren Chairman Masanobu Sakamoto confirmed the group's continued opposition to the plan, although he added that the proposal had obtained a certain degree of understanding within the fishing industry.
Japan's prime minister vowed Tuesday that "the government will take responsibility to deal with negative publicity and concerns among fishermen about whether their livelihoods can continue as before, even if the process takes decades until the discharge of the treated water is completed."
"We have taken every step to ensure a safety net is in place," said Kishida, whose government has allocated about 80 billion yen ($548 million) to aid local fishers and mitigate negative attention. "I want the relevant ministries to continue implementing measures while staying on the side of the fishermen."
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gave the plan a green light last month, after concluding that TEPCO "has demonstrated its capabilities for accurate and precise measurements of the radionuclides" in the plant's water, and "the approach and activities to the discharge of ALPS treated water taken by Japan are consistent with relevant international safety standards."
The United Nations nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi "has committed to the IAEA continuing its impartial, independent, and objective safety review during the discharge phase," so the agency "will maintain an onsite presence at Fukushima Daiichi" and "publish available data for use by the global community."
The release plan has long generated global criticism, including from the Chinese government. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, decried Japan's approach as "an extremely selfish and irresponsible act."
"China strongly insists that Japan should rectify this wrong decision and abandon its plan to discharge radioactive water into the sea," the diplomat added. "The Chinese side will take all necessary measures to protect marine ecology, safeguard food safety, and public health."
According toThe Associated Press:
In Seoul, Park Ku-yeon, first vice minister of South Korea's Office for Government Policy Coordination, told a briefing that officials confirmed Japan would discharge the wastewater in line with its initial plan.
If it does not stick to the plan, Park said, South Korea will request Japan to immediately stop the discharge which could threaten safety of South Koreans. Opposition lawmakers and activists protested vehemently, demanding Japan immediately scrap the plan.
Hong Kong and Macau announced that they are banning products from Fukushima and nine other prefectures in response to Tokyo's announcement Tuesday.
"The myth is being perpetuated that discharges are necessary for decommissioning. But the Japanese government itself admits that there is sufficient water storage space in Fukushima Daiichi," Greenpeace East Asia senior nuclear specialist Shaun Burnie noted Tuesday. "Long-term storage would expose the current government decommissioning roadmap as flawed, but that is exactly what needs to happen. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station is still in crisis, posing unique and severe hazards, and there is no credible plan for its decommissioning."
"Instead of engaging in an honest debate about this reality, the Japanese government has opted for a false solution—decades of deliberate radioactive pollution of the marine environment—during a time when the world's oceans are already facing immense stress and pressures," added Burnie. "This is an outrage that violates the human rights of the people and communities of Fukushima, and other neighboring prefectures and the wider Asia-Pacific region."
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China Says IAEA Approval of Fukushima Water Release Should Not Be Final 'Green Light'
"What impact will the long-term accumulation and concentration of radionuclides bring to the marine environment, food safety, and people's health?" the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs inquired.
Jul 05, 2023
Anxiety is growing this week in Asian and Pacific island nations after the United Nations' nuclear regulator approved Japan's plan to dump treated wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean—a course of action for which the Chinese government said Tokyo would "bear all the consequences."
"Simply for saving cost, Japan has insisted on discharging the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea in disregard of the concerns and opposition from the international community and taken the Pacific Ocean as the 'sewer,'" the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (CMFA) said on Tuesday. "We believe that the IAEA report should not be the 'shield' or 'green light' for Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean."
The ministry's statement came in reaction to the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) approval on Tuesday of Japan's plan to gradually release more than 1 million metric tons of filtered Fukushima wastewater into the Pacific despite years of warnings from environmentalists and the overwhelming opposition of people in the wider region.
Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, located about 150 miles northeast of the capital, was catastrophically damaged during the massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused meltdowns in three of the facility's reactors.
"No matter what the report says, it will not change the fact that Japan will release millions of tons of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean in the next three decades," CMFA said. "Will Japan's purification facility be effective in the long term? Can the international community be timely informed when the discharged water exceeds the discharge limit? What impact will the long-term accumulation and concentration of radionuclides bring to the marine environment, food safety, and people's health? These are the questions that the IAEA report failed to answer."
"We once again urge the Japanese side to stop its ocean discharge plan, and earnestly dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a science-based, safe, and transparent manner," the ministry added. "If Japan insists on going ahead with the plan, it will have to bear all the consequences arising from this. We urge the Japanese side to work with the IAEA to put in place as soon as possible a long-term international monitoring mechanism that would involve stakeholders including Japan's neighboring countries."
"We once again urge the Japanese side to stop its ocean discharge plan, and earnestly dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a science-based, safe, and transparent manner."
The government of one of those neighboring countries, South Korea, said Wednesday that it accepts the IAEA's approval of the wastewater release.
"It has been the government's long-standing stance to recognize the IAEA as a prestigious internationally agreed-upon agency, and we hold respect for its findings," Office for Government Policy Coordination First Deputy Chief Park Ku-yeon said during his daily press briefing.
However, a Gallup poll of more than 1,000 South Korean adults last week found that nearly 80% of respondents are worried about possible ocean and seafood contamination from the wastewater dump.
South Koreans have in recent days been stockpiling seafood and salt amid growing safety concerns over the impending wastewater release, for which no date has yet been set.
"I recently bought 5 kilograms of salt," Lee Young-min, a 38-year-old woman in Seongnam, toldReuters last week. "As a mother raising two children, I can't just sit back and do nothing. I want to feed them safely."
There have been regular protests against the planned Fukushima wastewater dump in South Korea and China—two countries that, like many others with nuclear power plants, have discharged far greater quantities of treated radioactive wastewater into oceans and other bodies of water than Japan plans to release.
"Nuclear sites all over the world... discharge diluted wastewater to seas, rivers, and lakes. This has been going on for decades without significant impacts," University of Portsmouth environment science professor Jim Smith toldScience Media Centre last week.
"For example, the La Hague reprocessing facility releases about 10,000 terabecquerels of tritium per year into the English Channel," Smith continued. "Radiation doses from this are very low and there is no evidence of significant ecosystem impacts."
"The planned release from Fukushima of 22 terabecqurels per year to the Pacific Ocean is about 450 times lower than the La Hague releases and 50 times lower than releases from the U.K's Sellafield facility," he noted, adding that claims of significant risks to the planned Fukushima release "are not founded in scientific evidence."
"Dilution is no longer the solution to pollution, so whilst the Japanese may dispose of their wastewater in the interim, it would be a good opportunity to look at other disposal methodologies in the future."
However, Tony Hooker, director of the Center for Radiation Research, Education, and Innovation at the University of Adelaide in Australia, said that "whilst this disposal plan meets the scientific and regulatory requirements for the disposal of radiation into the sea, and no environmental or human health impacts are likely to be observed, there is a growing question regarding the use of the sea as a dumping ground when our oceans are already stressed and struggling."
"Dilution is no longer the solution to pollution, so whilst the Japanese may dispose of their wastewater in the interim, it would be a good opportunity to look at other disposal methodologies in the future," Hooker added. "The Pacific Island Forum Scientific Panel has proposed to use the wastewater to make concrete, therefore locking up the residual radioactive tritium."
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