The plan to discharge sewage into the sea has been completed for one year, and Japan will cast a "triple shadow"

　　China News Agency, Beijing, April 13 (Reporter Zhu Chenxi) On April 13, the Japanese government announced the one-year anniversary of its decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

A year ago, the Japanese government unilaterally decided to filter and dilute a large amount of nuclear-contaminated water from the Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea starting around the spring of 2023, ignoring domestic and foreign doubts and objections.

To this day, the Japanese government's insistence has cast a "triple shadow" on its own people, the international community and the global ecology.

　　First, the plan to discharge sewage into the sea has brought a "shadow" to the Japanese people.

　　Since the Japanese government decided to discharge pollution into the sea, Japan's fishery has been worried.

Fisheries practitioners in Japan are generally concerned that the discharge of nuclear-polluted water into the sea will pollute fishery resources, affect the safety of local aquatic products, and lead to the loss of sales of aquatic products.

Tetsu Nozaki, president of Japan's Fukushima Fisheries Association, said the move will bring a devastating blow to the fishery in Fukushima Prefecture.

Data map: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

　　Recently, four groups, including the Miyagi Prefecture Fishery Cooperative Association and the Fukushima Prefecture Living Cooperative Association, submitted a joint signature of about 180,000 people to the Japanese government, requesting other methods to deal with the nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

On April 5, when he held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the discharge of nuclear-polluted water from Fukushima, Kishihiro, president of the National Federation of Fisheries Associations of Japan, reiterated that his position of resolutely opposing nuclear-polluted water discharge to the sea remained unchanged.

　　The latest poll by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun shows that more than half of the Japanese people oppose the plan to discharge nuclear-polluted water into the sea.

On April 10, people in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan spontaneously organized a rally at a local station to oppose the Japanese government's plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.

Rally, about 70% of the people in Shizuoka prefecture oppose the discharge of sewage into the sea, and people in other parts of Japan like Shizuoka are also deeply concerned about marine pollution.

　　According to local media reports in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, since December last year, many schools in Japan have received flyers produced by the Japanese government to promote the "safety" of nuclear-contaminated water to students.

The incident sparked strong dissatisfaction and protests from lawmakers, educators and parents of students in Fukushima, Iwate and other places.

　　Second, the plan to discharge sewage into the sea has cast a "shadow" on the international community.

　　The plan to discharge sewage into the sea stirs the nerves of the international community.

The international community has raised many questions and concerns to Japan on issues such as the legitimacy of Japan's nuclear-contaminated water discharge, the rationality of its plan, the reliability of nuclear-contaminated water data, and the reliability of purification equipment.

　　The governments of South Korea and Japan held a video working meeting for the first time not long ago, and the South Korean side raised questions on technical issues related to the discharge of nuclear-polluted water into the sea.

The South Korean government stressed that it is necessary for South Korea and Japan to continue full and pragmatic discussions on the issue of nuclear-contaminated water treatment, and requested Japan to provide further relevant technical information.

　　South Korea's Busan city government announced last month that it would step up detection of radioactive substances.

The Busan City Government will add unmanned detection devices in the waters surrounding the South District of Busan, and at the same time increase the frequency of detection of radioactive substances in the offshore area.

　　As a close neighbor and stakeholder of Japan, China has always maintained serious concerns over the discharge of water polluted by the Fukushima nuclear program into the sea.

A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that China urges Japan to revoke the wrong decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, fully consult with stakeholders and relevant international institutions, and carefully evaluate the pros and cons of various nuclear-contaminated water disposal options before making decisions. decision-making to ensure the safe disposal of nuclear-contaminated water.

　　Third, the plan to discharge sewage into the sea will bring a "shadow" to the global ecology.

　　In fact, discharging sewage into the sea is not Japan's only option.

Some experts pointed out that the treatment methods of nuclear-contaminated water include electrolysis, chemical reduction, distillation and burial of formation voids.

However, these methods require long-term technical research and extremely high investment.

It can be seen that for the Japanese government, discharging sewage into the sea is the most time-saving, labor-saving and money-saving "shortcut".

　　However, nuclear-contaminated water contains a variety of harmful substances. Once discharged into the sea, it will spread to the world at an extremely fast rate, which will cause adverse effects on the global marine ecological environment.

The German institute for marine scientific research pointed out that the coast of Fukushima has the strongest ocean current in the world. Within 57 days from the date of discharge, the radioactive material will spread to most of the Pacific Ocean and spread to the global waters in 10 years.

　　The American "Science" magazine published an article saying that the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water contains a variety of radioactive components, including tritium, which is difficult to remove and has a very high content.

Another isotope, carbon-14, is easily absorbed by marine organisms, and the physiological concentration of carbon-14 in fish can reach 50,000 times that of tritium.

According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the United States, nuclear-contaminated water contains radioactive elements such as iodine-129, which can cause thyroid cancer, strontium-90 and ruthenium-106, which are prone to leukemia.

Relevant experts pointed out that nuclear-contaminated water contains as many as 60 kinds of radioactive pollutants. The half-life of these pollutants is between 30 years and 5730 years, and it is basically impossible to filter out through the flow of the sea itself.

　　Currently, the IAEA's assessment of the disposal of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water is still in progress.

The disposal of nuclear-contaminated water concerns the safety of the global ecological environment and the lives and health of people in all countries, and is by no means a "private matter" of Japan.

Whether Japan can revoke its decision to discharge the sea as soon as possible, stop the preparations for the sea discharge, and remove the "triple shadow" brought about by the plan to discharge sewage into the sea is the "litmus test" of whether Japan can win the trust of the international community.

(Finish)