"Can I drink it?"
Asahi Shimbun reported on the 3rd that Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide visited the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on September 26th, when he saw the purified water from the nuclear power plant and asked an official of Tokyo Electric Power.
It was a question I asked after hearing Tokyo Electric Power's explanation that "you can drink it if it is diluted."
Prime Minister Suga said he did not drink contaminated water (the Japanese government name'treated water').
Asahi diagnosed, "Even if I drank it, the public perception that it was'safe' or'so it's okay to let it go to the sea' would not have spread to the public."
At the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, rainwater and groundwater flow into the circulating cooling water that cools the molten nuclear fuel in the reactor that caused the explosion during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, causing 140 tons of contaminated water per day.
The amount of polluted water generated per day was initially 160 to 170 tons, but it is said to have decreased slightly this year.
TEPCO uses a special purification device to filter contaminated water containing radioactive materials, but the current technology cannot filter out tritium (tritium), which emit weak radiation.
In addition, in August 2018, it was revealed that in addition to tritium, radioactive substances such as strontium and iodine were also contained in the purified contaminated water.
It is known that the contaminated water storage tank at the site of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant will be full in October 2022.
As a result, the Japanese government had planned to hold a ministerial meeting on the 27th of last month to decide to release contaminated water from the ocean, but Asahi said the decision was put on hold at the judgment of Hiroshi Kajiyama's economy and industry.
Regarding TEPCO's explanation of “if you can drink it if you dilute it,” Asahi said, “It is difficult to understand the simple attitude of TEPCO.” "What if I think about it?" he pointed out.