Japan's wastewater discharge condemned

SEOUL — Japan's push to discharge more than a million metric tons of radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean is irresponsible and harmful, and it is pursuing this course without consulting its neighbors, a South Korean green activist says.

"It is very concerning that Japan is still unilaterally pushing for the discharge of the Fukushima contaminated water," Ahn Jae-hun, energy and climate change director of the Korea Federation for Environment Movement, said on Saturday.

"Neighboring countries such as South Korea and China could suffer more direct damage, so Japan has to consult with them. The problem is that Japan follows its own process.

"A sizable amount of the contaminated water, such as tritium, is difficult to purify no matter how much purification is performed. It is very irresponsible to release it as it is."

Japan's planned release of tritium-laced wastewater from the Fukushima power plant into the sea will start around this spring or summer, Kyodo News reported, citing the Japanese government.

Japan decided in April 2021 to start dumping about 1.25 million tons of nuclear wastewater into the ocean over 30 years from 2023.

The government has said the contaminated water could be diluted with other water and discharged at a low concentration after being treated with an advanced liquid processing system.

However, Ahn said, the radioactive substances cannot be completely filtered, and substances such as tritium will be poured into the sea unfiltered.

"A lot of radioactive materials have already flowed into the sea after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Because of that, fish contaminated with cesium are caught in waters off Fukushima."

Environmental effects

According to the South Korean environmental group's analysis of 2021 data from Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, cesium was detected from 8 percent of Japanese fishery products.

"Once (the contaminated water) is thrown into the sea it cannot be retrieved," Ahn said. "Environmental effects from radioactive materials cannot be felt immediately, but will inevitably appear over a long period.

"The Pacific Ocean is not the sea of Japan but the sea of everybody. …Pollutants will flow to neighboring countries in a situation that a lot of radioactive materials have already been released and contaminated (the marine ecosystem)."

Fishers in the Fukushima region also fear their reputations will be damaged because of the release, after trying for years to reestablish trust in their products through strict testing.

Regional neighbors including China and South Korea, and groups such as Greenpeace, have criticized the plan.

The South Korean government, which has opposed the radioactive wastewater dumping by Japan, reiterated its opposition on Friday.

Agencies - Xinhua