Japan plans to allow Tepco, the operator of the Fukushima accident site, to dump more than a billion liters of contaminated water from the plant into the Pacific Ocean, reports RFI .
The only "realistic option"
This radioactive water, which comes from groundwater beneath the plant, is currently stored in hundreds of reservoirs. A "controlled release" of this water into the ocean would be the only "realistic option" to get rid of it, according to nuclear experts, since no decontamination technology of these waters is yet developed.
"Spilling this water in the ocean is the cheapest and fastest option, and we are confident that this will be done [Japan]" by next year, says Chang Mari, a representative from the NGO Greenpeace in Korea. "Once this contaminated water and tritium are in the ocean, they will follow the ocean currents and find themselves everywhere, including in the sea in the east of Korea."
"It's a problem that concerns the whole world"
"It is estimated that it will take 17 years for this radioactive contamination to be sufficiently diluted to reach a safe level.Koreans are very concerned.We need the support of the international community to stop the Japanese government. which concerns the whole world, "said Greenpeace in its international appeal. The NGO regrets that the Japanese government neglects, by this decision, the risks caused by radioactivity.
The South Korean government has also taken a stand on the subject and regrets the lack of transparency of its Japanese counterpart concerning the possible discharge of these contaminated waters.