The Japanese government has officially decided to discharge millions of tons of nuclear waste water into the sea, and the Fukushima nuclear accident will be paid by the whole world.

Li Yunshu, website of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

Millions of tons of nuclear waste water will be dumped into the Pacific Ocean.

According to the news of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on April 13th, the Japanese government held a cabinet meeting that day, and formally decided to discharge nuclear waste water harmful to the marine environment from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Studies have shown that after the nuclear waste water is discharged, it only takes 57 days for radioactive substances to spread to half of the Pacific Ocean, the largest and deepest ocean with the most marginal seas and islands in the world.

The Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan caused the leakage of radioactive materials, which had a far-reaching impact on the marine environment, food safety and human health. "Discharge into the sea" is obviously not only a domestic problem in Japan, but also an international problem that affects the global marine ecology and environmental safety.

The nuclear waste water storage tank will be full, and the Japanese government has decided to discharge nuclear waste water that meets the "standard" into the sea.

For ten years, a large amount of nuclear waste water that can’t be treated has been the "sword of Damocles" hanging over Japan.

On March 11th, 2011, an earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale occurred in the northeast Pacific region of Japan, which in turn triggered a tsunami. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company lost power due to seawater injection, and three of its four nuclear reactors exploded and their cores melted successively, resulting in catastrophic nuclear leakage.

The accident level was designated as the highest level of nuclear accident, level 7 (catastrophic accident). Up to now, people around the Fukushima nuclear power plant are still unable to live normally.

Nuclear wastewater treatment is a major problem in the aftermath of Fukushima nuclear accident. In order to control the temperature of the nuclear reactor, TEPCO injected a lot of cooling water into the reactor. The cooling water in the reactor, combined with the influx of rainwater and groundwater day after day, continuously produces more and more nuclear wastewater with radioactive substances in the nuclear power plant.

According to Japanese media analysis, the Japanese government decided to discharge nuclear wastewater, probably because the storage tank capacity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for storing nuclear wastewater is about to reach the upper limit.

At present, Tokyo Electric Power Company adopts the method of "intercepting and treating" to deal with the nuclear waste water, while setting underground pumping wells around the nuclear power plant to reduce the inflow of groundwater by intercepting, and at the same time using multi-nuclide removal equipment to remove radioactive substances in nuclear waste water. Because the existing technology can not effectively remove radioactive tritium from nuclear waste water, tritium-containing polluted water is stored in large water storage tanks.

According to Japanese media reports, about 140 tons of nuclear waste water is added every day. Tokyo Electric Power has prepared about 1,000 water storage tanks with a total capacity of about 1.37 million tons. At present, 90% of them are full, and the treated wastewater stored exceeds 1.2 million tons, which is expected to reach the limit in autumn 2022.

In February this year, the relevant committee of the Japanese government responsible for dealing with nuclear wastewater issued a report, which listed two schemes for dealing with nuclear wastewater: "ocean discharge" and "steam". The report claims that marine discharge is "more practical", and according to the Japanese statement, the impact of tritium discharged into the sea on human health is "relatively small".

Is there really only one way to discharge into the ocean? Japan’s "Citizens’ Committee on Nuclear Energy" once pointed out that "large storage tanks are kept on land" or "solidified with mortar" is the best way to solve the problem of nuclear wastewater under the existing technology, which can ensure the proper storage of nuclear wastewater on land.

"Although there is no room for new storage facilities in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, it is entirely possible to build new storage facilities in many open spaces around the nuclear power plant that are uninhabitable due to excessive radiation concentration." Jin Yongming, a professor at China Ocean University and a senior researcher at the Institute of Ocean Development of China Ocean University, thinks.

Earlier, some Japanese media also pointed out that there are a large number of uninhabitable areas around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant due to high radiation, and these idle land can be used to build new storage facilities.

However, from the perspective of cost-effectiveness, the Japanese government believes that the best way is to discharge nuclear waste water that meets the "standard" into the sea after dilution. After all, dumping nuclear waste water into the sea is obviously easier and faster than building more water storage tanks, and it also saves money, out of sight, out of mind.

Accidents of nuclear waste water treatment in Fukushima nuclear power plant are constantly occurring, behind which are man-made disasters.

Before the Japanese government publicly decided to dump the nuclear waste water to the international community, the nuclear waste water from Fukushima nuclear power plant had been "in trouble" several times.

In April 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company discharged 11,500 tons of sewage containing low-concentration radioactive substances into the sea. In this regard, Yukio Edano, then the Chief Cabinet Secretary, argued that it was "really impossible" to discharge sewage, but it "would not immediately cause radiation pollution to neighboring countries".

In August 2013, a serious leak occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. According to Japanese media reports, the storage tank of the nuclear plant leaked about 300 tons of highly polluted nuclear radiation water, which "may have flowed into the ocean". This is the most serious radiation waste water leakage incident since the nuclear disaster crisis, and the Japan Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission has raised this issue to the third level of "serious incident" on the international nuclear energy event scale.

In October, 2013, waste water containing radioactive substances overflowed from many leakproof cofferdams around the storage tanks of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. After testing, in the water samples collected from the drainage ditch outside the harbor of the nuclear power plant, strontium and other radioactive substances release beta rays, and the radiation intensity per liter has reached as high as 140,000 Bekkerel. This is the highest radiation intensity ever detected here.

On April 14, 2014, Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant had another leakage accident. High-concentration nuclear waste water was sent to other factories by mistake, and about 200 tons of nuclear waste water leaked into the basement because the water pump that was not used at ordinary times was turned on. According to the company, the leaked waste water is high-concentration waste water produced after cooling the reactor. Because it is in the stage before removing radioactive substances such as cesium, every liter of waste water contains tens of millions of radioactive cesium in Bekkerel.

After each accident, the relevant person in charge of Tokyo Electric Power Company made a "sincere apology", but it did not solve the actual problem.

After the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company said that the tsunami could not be predicted in advance. However, reports from the government and independent investigation agencies all describe the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant as a man-made disaster, which is the result of safety negligence, oversight by regulators and collusion.

According to Japanese media reports, as early as 2008, an independent investigation agency in Japan analyzed that the location of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant might be hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7 or above and a tsunami of magnitude 10 meters, but at that time, TEPCO downplayed the need to take countermeasures, and this early warning report was delayed until March 7, 2011.

It is precisely because of Japan’s passive response to the nuclear accident that the situation escalated and quickly got out of control. The Japanese government is to blame for the poor aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident. In order to avoid the bankruptcy of TEPCO, although the Japanese government nationalized it in essence, it did not take its due national responsibility in dealing with nuclear accidents, but allowed TEPCO, whose credit was bankrupt, to continue to turn Fukushima nuclear power plant into an "information black hole".

A member of the Japan Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission found that TEPCO didn’t even record the change of radiation around the nuclear waste water storage tank. In other words, since the nuclear accident, the response plan formulated by the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power has actually been full of flaws.

Even more surprising, according to Kyodo News, there are about 4,000 containers in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that keep waste and rubble, and the details of the items in the containers cannot be grasped. According to the report, in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant area, a gel-like mass with a large amount of radiation was found on the surface of the area where the container was placed in March this year, which may have leaked from the corroded container.

Nuclear wastewater is not only potentially toxic to human beings, but also can affect the marine environment in a more lasting and complicated way.

Some Japanese scholars pointed out that the ocean around Fukushima is not only a fishing ground for local fishermen to survive, but also a part of the Pacific Ocean and even the global ocean. The discharge of nuclear wastewater into the ocean will affect global fish migration, offshore fishing, human health, ecological security and other aspects.

What is terrible about the nuclear waste water that causes panic?

The so-called nuclear waste water is the waste water remaining after cooling the nuclear reactor. According to the research of Japanese experts, the main pollutants in nuclear waste water are tritium and other radioactive substances, and their half-lives are different. The half-life of tritium is about 12.43 years, that of cesium -137 is 30 years, and that of strontium -90 is 29 years. Their hazards cannot be eliminated in a short time.

In order to appease the international community, the Japanese government is vigorously promoting the safety of emissions. According to the Tokyo Electric Power Company, most radioactive materials can be removed after precise filtration procedures, and before the nuclear wastewater enters the sea, it will be treated twice to dilute the tritium concentration in the wastewater to one fortieth of the Japanese national standard. A person in charge of Tokyo Electric Power even claimed in an interview that even if these nuclear waste waters are drunk 2 liters a day, they will not cause harm to health.

However, according to the report released by Greenpeace in October last year, a large amount of tritium and carbon -14 contained in Fukushima nuclear waste water will greatly increase the radiation dose received by human beings, and there is a potential danger of damaging human DNA. In the words of Sean Bernie, a senior nuclear expert of the organization, harmful elements and other radioactive nuclear waste in wastewater will harm the environment for thousands of years.

In addition, these radioactive substances can easily enter marine sediments and be absorbed by marine organisms. They are not only potentially toxic to human beings, but also can affect the marine environment in a more lasting and complicated way.

In the face of the Pacific Ocean where countless lives live, the Japanese rhetoric of "harmless to the human body" is extremely thin.

Life in the Pacific Ocean is the most abundant in the world’s oceans, and its biomass accounts for more than 50% of the world’s oceans. There are three to four times as many species of animals in the Pacific Ocean as in other oceans. There are more than 2,000 species of fish, more than 6,000 species of mollusca in the tropical Pacific Ocean and more than 2,000 species of stony corals in Indonesian archipelago waters alone.

Vladimir Lakov, chief researcher and doctor of biology at the Pacific Ocean Research Institute of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed out that "there is no sufficient basis for all standards. For someone, the so-called concentration is the standard; But for others, it is another indicator. Organisms are different. Perhaps, this is in line with human standards, but what about octopus? Obviously not. For example, for whales, only a relatively small dose can kill them. Standards for millions of marine life have not been formulated. "

In addition, Lakoff said that even if these nuclear waste waters are purified, if they are discharged into the ocean, they may still cause radioactive isotopes to remain in marine organisms including fish and then accumulate in the human body.

The vast ocean can indeed dilute the radiation dose, but there has never been a precedent in human history to release a considerable amount of various radioactive materials with a long half-life into the global water circulation system. Many scientists and environmental protection organizations have said that due to the huge volume of nuclear waste water and the limited existing technology, it is impossible to fully predict what potential harm the discharged waste water will cause to the marine environment and human safety.

"It is true that the Japanese government has repeatedly stressed that the nuclear wastewater discharged into the ocean meets the corresponding standards and has been recognized by the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, Japan and abroad still oppose the discharge of nuclear wastewater into the ocean, mainly because the impact of nuclear pollution is far-reaching and unknown." Jiang Feng, editor-in-chief of the Japanese New Overseas Chinese News and a visiting researcher in the history department of Peking University, said.

Jiang Feng pointed out that the "Minamata disease incident" that occurred in the 1950s was because Japan Nitrogen and Fertilizer Company began to discharge untreated wastewater into the water in 1925, but it was not until 1956 that a large number of Minamata patients began to appear, which caused serious pollution to the marine ecological environment. At first, people thought it was caused by nitrogen discharged into the ocean, but in the end, through investigation and study, it was found that the culprit was mercury.

"Therefore, the Japanese government has discharged nuclear waste water that meets the’ standard’ into the ocean today, but who can guarantee that similar Minamata disease incidents will not occur in the future? Moreover, the’ Minamata Disease Incident’ in that year was mainly concentrated in some parts of Japan, but the nuclear wastewater discharged into the ocean will spread to the whole Pacific Ocean, and its impact will be more serious and far-reaching. " Jiang Feng said.

It is extremely irresponsible and short-sighted to transfer the disastrous results from one’s own negligence to the ocean.

In March 2021, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide visited Fukushima Prefecture. He said, "The storage tanks of nuclear waste water are increasing and the storage sites are becoming more and more tense. Under such circumstances, we should not always postpone making decisions, and we will make decisions responsibly at an appropriate time."

Is dumping nuclear waste water into the Pacific Ocean a responsible decision?

This decision of the Japanese government has been widely opposed at home and abroad. According to the polls, about 50% of the people are against the government’s decision. Japan’s National Federation of Fishery Cooperatives explicitly opposes the discharge of nuclear waste water into the ocean. The people of Fukushima staged demonstrations in many places, holding placards such as "The ocean is crying" and "Opposing the discharge of tritium-containing waste water into the ocean" and opposing the relevant plans of the Japanese government. I hope the government will not make a unilateral decision.

"So far, we have repeatedly stressed the need for the Japanese government to disclose information, comply with environmental standards acceptable to the international community, and conduct objective and transparent inspections," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Cui Yongshan said at a press conference on April 8. Earlier, Ren Junze, president of the Central Committee of the Korea Aquaculture Cooperative Association, met with Zhenren Nagai, Counsellor of the Japanese Embassy in South Korea, and opposed the Japanese idea of discharging nuclear wastewater into the sea. Yuan Xilong, governor of Jeju-do, South Korea, also urged the Japanese government to provide information and hold consultations.

On April 12, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian answered a reporter’s question about Japan’s decision to discharge nuclear waste water into the sea. He said that China had expressed its serious concern to Japan through diplomatic channels and asked Japan to treat the nuclear waste water disposal of Fukushima nuclear power plant with a responsible attitude and prudence.

Huo Zhengxin, a professor at the School of International Law of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the international community has so far discharged nuclear wastewater into the ocean, which is unprecedented. Huo Zhengxin believes that according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, if the Japanese government discharges nuclear waste water into the sea, it will constitute a typical marine environmental pollution, which not only violates international morality, but also bears corresponding responsibilities under international law. The Convention clearly stipulates that all countries have the obligation and responsibility to protect the marine environment. Japan is also obliged to protect and preserve the marine environment and take all necessary measures to prevent, reduce and control marine environmental pollution.

For such a serious problem, western countries and their media have fallen into silence. It is even more ironic that acts that damage the global natural environment and cause far-reaching harm to many creatures, including human beings, are selectively and collectively ignored by western media keen on speculating on "human rights" and "environmental protection" issues.

Since joining the United Nations in 1956, Japan has always positioned itself as a "responsible big country", but now it wants to dump its nuclear waste water into the Pacific Ocean and "radiate" it to the public welfare and interests of neighboring countries and even the international community. It is extremely irresponsible and short-sighted to transfer the disastrous results from one’s own negligence to the ocean.

Japan cannot bear the responsibility of discharging nuclear waste water into the Pacific Ocean.