ANALYSIS - NGOs Warn Fukushima Water Discharge Holds Dangers for Food Chain, Fishing Industry
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2021) The planned release of treated radioactive water from the disabled Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) poses risks for the food chain and threatens to completely destroy the fishing industry in the region, environmentalist and anti-nuclear activists told Sputnik.
On Tuesday, Japan announced its decision to release treated radioactive water into the ocean, as the NPP, which suffered the world's second-worst nuclear disaster in 2011 as a result of a devastating tsunami, is running out of storage capacity.
The plan to discharge some 1.23 million tonnes of radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean has caused a massive backlash from neighboring countries, including China and South Korea, who urge Tokyo to review the decision.
The European Union also expects Tokyo to ensure that the procedure is in line with all safety standards. Russia has similarly expressed concerns and hopes for transparency. The release is expected to start in 2023.
According to Sortir du nucleaire, a French association of anti-nuclear groups, despite Japan's assurances, the water, which has been used for 10 years to cool the melted nuclear reactors, will still contain tritium and Carbon-14 that can enter the food chain.
"Even if the doses are low, the questions raised by Japanese consumers associations and environmentalists and the international outcry would completely destroy the fishing industry and the life of fishermen in the region. Dumping this water into the ocean will dash the efforts done in the past decade to restore the fishing industry," Charlotte Mijeon, who is in charge of external relations at Sortir du nucleaire, told Sputnik.
She further highlighted wide-ranging consequences of the nuclear disaster.
Mijeon, in particular, noted that 10 years on, "in a very large region around Fukushima, soil contamination remains a daily reality."
The activist also reminded about high incidence of thyroid cancer in children living in Fukushima at the time of the disaster.
A UN report, published in March before the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, however, found "no adverse health effects" of the nuclear catastrophe, attributing the higher cancer rates to the use of highly sensitive ultrasound equipment and the large number of children being examined.
Francesca Gater, a communications director at Friends of the Earth Europe, told Sputnik that dumping water into the ocean is not the only viable option.
"'Citizen's Commission on Nuclear Energy', a think-tank involving plant engineers has suggested other options such as 'large tanks for long-term water storage' and 'solidification by mortar,'" Gater said.
The first option, she went on, suggests installing large tanks with a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters (3.5 million cubic feet) with domed roofs and watertight-vents, to store the Fukushima water.
Another method is the "solidification by mortar proposal."
"This method has been used to dispose of contaminated water at the nuclear facilities at Savannah River Site in the US. The benefits are that this method can semi-permanently cut off any risk of contaminated water leaking into the ocean. The radioactive elements in the contaminated water will continue to decay even in solid form. This means that safety can be assured even in the future when the concrete and mortar start to degrade. However, since cement or sand is added to the contaminated water, the volumetric efficiency is cut down to 1/4," she explained.