Water discharge from Fukushima nuclear power plant begins

Politics

Published: 24 Aug. 2023, 13:43 Updated: 24 Aug. 2023, 15:28

Water discharge from Fukushima nuclear power plant begins

An aerial view of the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in eastern Japan on Thursday, the first day that the Tokyo Electric Power Company began releasing radioactive water used to cool the melted nuclear reactor into the Pacific Ocean. [YONHAP/KYODO]

Japan’s highly controversial release of radioactive water from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean began on Thursday as planned, according to the plant’s operator.

Video broadcast by the operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), showed the discharge started just after 1 p.m.

Speaking at a government press conference held in response to the release, Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo urged Tokyo to be “transparent and responsible over the next thirty years” in its sharing of information regarding the water being discharged from the Fukushima plant, referring to the expected amount of time needed to safely remove all of the water currently stored at the Fukushima plant.

“The important task now is that Japan thoroughly abides by the scientific standards it promised before the international community and transparently shares information,” Han said, adding that the Korean government will seek Japan’s cooperation to “secure safety measures grounded in science and international law that our people can understand.”

The prime minister acknowledged that it would have been better “if no contaminated water was released in the first place,” but emphasized that experts around the world “share the common opinion that the Korean people have no reason to excessively worry” about the water discharge.

Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks at a press conference regarding the release of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that began on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Japan has argued that the release of treated radioactive water is safe, a finding that has been backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which issued a report in July saying the impact of the water’s release on people and the environment would be “negligible.”

However, the release of radioactive water, which was generated in the process of cooling reactor fuel at the plant after it suffered a meltdown during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan, has aroused significant opposition in Korea, particularly among politicians in the Democratic Party (DP).

Seoul’s official position is that the discharge would pose “no scientific or technical problems,” but that it neither approves nor disapproves of the water release.

The radioactive water release, which began at 1 p.m. Thursday, is scheduled to last 17 days and is the first of four separate discharges planned for this year.

Approximately 460 tons of radioactive water will be released daily into the Pacific Ocean via an undersea tunnel that extends 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the Fukushima plant, with a total of 7,800 tons of water to be discharged during the first release.

The radioactive water used to cool the plant’s nuclear core has been stored in tanks after undergoing an advanced liquid processing system that removes most radioactive materials except for tritium, which cannot be eliminated by current technology.

But the tanks are nearing capacity, with the Fukushima plant currently storing over 1.3 million tons of radioactive water in 1,000 tanks — enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The water released on Thursday represents 2.3 percent of the current amount of water in storage.

Japanese officials say the water must be released as part of the plant’s decommissioning process, which is expected to take decades to complete.

As part of the discharge, the tritium-laden water is diluted with seawater so that it contains less than 1,500 becquerels of tritium per liter, or one-fortieth the amount that is considered safe by Japanese standards. A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity.

According to the results of Tepco tests released on Thursday, the water contains about up to 63 becquerels of tritium per liter.

The World Health Organization considers water with less than 10,000 becquerels per liter to be safe for human consumption.

Tokyo has pledged to provide hourly updates about the level of radioactivity in the water being released, as well as to halt the discharge if it exceeds safety levels.

In response to Seoul’s concerns about the safety of the water release, the IAEA has granted Korean experts permission to regularly visit its office in Fukushima to receive the latest updates on the radioactive water discharge.

The Korean government has also conducted regular checks of radioactivity levels at 200 sites within its waters since July and promised to continue monitoring to ensure the safety of seafood.

But despite these assurances, the DP and other Korean civic groups have labeled the water release as an “environmental catastrophe,” with party leader Lee Jae-myung calling the discharge an “act of terror” reminiscent of Japan’s imperialistic past in the Pacific War.

The DP has led domestic opposition in Korea to Japan's water release plan, arguing that it could pose great health risks to the Korean people and harm the domestic fishing industry.

It has also seized upon the issue to criticize the Yoon Suk Yeol administration for not actively opposing the water release.

The Yoon administration’s cautious approach to the Japanese plan follows an assessment by Korean nuclear experts that the release of radioactive water from Fukushima would not affect the health of the public or Korea’s marine ecosystem.

In a statement in June, the Korean Nuclear Society said that the amount of tritium scheduled for release, estimated at 0.062 grams per year, “is minimal compared to the 200 grams of tritium that are produced naturally every year and 3 grams of tritium that fall into the East Sea as rain.”

Seoul’s ambiguous stance regarding the Fukushima discharge has contrasted with that of Washington, which has expressed stronger support for Tokyo’s plan.

In a phone interview with Japan’s Kyodo News Agency, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said he will visit Fukushima Prefecture on Aug. 31 and meet with local fishermen, residents and officials to “physically show support and then to express confidence in the process that Japan has methodically pursued.”

The U.S. ambassador also plans to eat local seafood to show support for Japan’s water release plan, according to an embassy official.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington is “satisfied with Japan’s plans, which are safe and in accordance with international standards, including, critically, the IAEA nuclear safety standards,” adding that Japan “has coordinated closely, proactively with the IAEA on its plans, and they’ve conducted a science-based and transparent process.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]