Japan Sets Dumping Of Contaminated Fukushima Water Into Ocean

The Japanese government has said it would release 1 million tons of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean “this spring or summer” despite opposition from environmentalists, local communities, and neighboring countries, Eri Suguira reported for the Financial Times.

Photo Insert: The contaminated water has been treated with an elaborate filtration system to remove most of the radioactive material. However, there is no practical way to remove tritium, a relatively weak source of radiation.

The cabinet on Friday endorsed a revised policy on the disposal of treated water containing low-level concentrations of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. In April 2021, the government set a basic policy to release the water “in about two years.”

But the government acknowledged that it would not be able to release the water before this spring, in the light of the safety assessment by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and work being done by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the owner of the plant, on the discharge facilities.

Following the nuclear disaster triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan in 2011, a vast amount of water is still required to continually cool the melted fuel and debris at the crippled power plant.

The contaminated water has been treated with an elaborate filtration system to remove most of the radioactive material. However, there is no practical way to remove tritium, a relatively weak source of radiation.

Everybody is exposed to a certain amount of background radiation, including higher doses when taking a long-distance flight or receiving an X-ray. Japan’s government claims that the radiation dose from Fukushima water would be no more than a thousandth of the natural exposure, even if it were all released in a single year.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic