Japan will discharge into the sea, after treatment, water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant (northeast), Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on Tuesday, despite the opposition to this project, both internally and externally.
Japan will discharge into the sea, after treatment, more than a million tonnes of water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Japanese government announced on Tuesday, despite opposition from neighboring countries, including China, and local fishing communities.
This decision puts an end to seven years of debate on how to get rid of water from rain, groundwater or injections needed to cool the cores of nuclear reactors that melted after the tsunami of March 11, 2011.
1.25 million tonnes of contaminated water
About 1.25 million tonnes of contaminated water are currently stored in more than a thousand cisterns near the damaged power plant ten years ago in northeastern Japan.
The water will be rejected "after making sure that it is at a level (of radioactive substances, editor's note) clearly below safety standards," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday, adding that the Japanese government would take " measures "to prevent this from damaging the reputation of the region.
A decision was all the more urgent as the water accumulates quickly: in 2020, the site generated around 140 cubic meters of contaminated water every day.
The limits of on-site storage capacity could be reached as early as fall 2022, according to Tepco, the plant operator.
The water intended to be released in this operation, which should not start for two years and could take decades, has been filtered several times to be free of most of its radioactive substances (radionuclides), but not tritium, which cannot be eliminated with current techniques.
Opposition of Japanese fishermen and Greenpeace
This option, favored to the detriment of other scenarios, such as evaporation in the air or sustainable storage, is highly contested by the fishermen and farmers of Fukushima who fear that this will further affect the image of their products with consumers. .
"The management of contaminated water is an issue that cannot be avoided" in the reconstruction in Fukushima, Yoshihide Suga said last week after his meeting with the head of the Federation of Fishing Cooperatives of Japan, head on. against the project.
The government "told us that it would not throw the water (into the sea, editor's note) without the support of the fishermen," Kanji Tachiya, head of a local fishing cooperative in Fukushima, said on Tuesday, just before the announcement of the decision.
"Now they are coming back to it and telling us that they are going to reject the water, it is incomprehensible," he added.
"The Japanese government has once again let the people of Fukushima down," Greenpeace reacted on Tuesday, criticizing a "completely unjustified decision to deliberately contaminate the Pacific Ocean with nuclear waste."
The environmental organization repeated its call to continue storing water until the technology allows it to be completely decontaminated.
China, Korea lament decision, US supports
In early 2020, experts commissioned by the government recommended dumping at sea, a practice that already exists in Japan and abroad on active nuclear installations.
"There is a consensus among scientists on the fact that the impact on health (of a discharge at sea of tritiated water, editor's note) is tiny," Michiaki Kai, professor and expert, told AFP. radiation risks at the University of Health Sciences in Oita (southwestern Japan).
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also arguing for the option of dilution at sea. "We are taking (the government's) decision seriously," Tepco boss Tomoaki Kobayakawa said on Tuesday. 'pledging to take "measures to prevent harmful rumors from circulating" against local agriculture, forestry, fishing and tourism.
Neighbors of Japan, with whom Tokyo has stormy relations against the backdrop of historic disputes, have expressed their dissatisfaction.
China on Tuesday called "extremely irresponsible" Japan's approach which "will seriously harm public health and safety around the world, as well as the vital interests of neighboring countries."
South Korea expressed "deep regret" after the decision which represents "a risk to the maritime environment".
The US government, an ally of Tokyo, however expressed its support for the operation, noting that Japan had "weighed the options and the effects, had been transparent in its decision and appeared to have adopted an approach consistent with the internationally recognized nuclear safety standards ".