China News Service, April 14 (Reporter Meng Xiangjun) On April 13, 2021, the Japanese government took the risk of the world and unilaterally announced that it will begin to contaminate the treated and diluted Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant from around the spring of 2023. water, released in batches into the Pacific Ocean.
These nuclear sewage, as many as more than 1 million tons; the sewage process is expected to take 30 years.
Over the past year, the Japanese government's position has not changed at all. It is determined to use the Pacific Ocean and even the global ocean as its own "sewers", and even prepared some rhetoric to beautify its own behavior.
However, unexpectedly, there is a more dangerous and difficult to deal with pollution, which still makes the Japanese government devastated...
Data map: Japanese people protest against Tokyo Electric Power Company's study of discharging Fukushima nuclear sewage into the sea.
[Hot potato, ready to throw it]
After Chernobyl, the world's worst nuclear accident, the Fukushima nuclear accident caused by the 9-magnitude earthquake in 2011, has far-reaching consequences beyond imagination.
The earthquake caused the core meltdown of Units 1 to 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
In order to prevent the fuel rods from melting, Japan injected a large amount of cooling water into the reactor.
Combined with the original coolant, groundwater and rainwater infiltrated into the reactor, the radioactive nuclear wastewater collected has become the "hot potato" of Tokyo Electric Power Company (hereinafter referred to as TEPCO).
They are produced at a rate of about 150 to 170 tons per day, and today at least 1.4 million tons are stored in more than 1,000 storage tanks.
By the end of 2021, about 95% of storage is full.
Data map: In 2014, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was opened to media reporters. The picture shows the situation photographed on the spot.
Since 2019, TEPCO has begun to portray that nuclear sewage "cannot be stored". Two years later, the Yoshihide Suga government officially announced that nuclear sewage would be treated and discharged into the sea, which shocked the international community.
TEPCO recently revealed for the first time that from 2021 to 2024, the cost of discharging nuclear sewage into the sea is expected to be about 43 billion yen (about 2.2 billion yuan).
The Japanese side does not plan to discharge directly from the shore of Fukushima, but instead spends money to build an undersea tunnel and "discharge the flood" a little far from the door.
[Divert attention, play down the danger]
Tepco said that the nuclear sewage was treated layer by layer, using multinuclide removal devices (ALPS), strontium and cesium adsorption devices, reverse osmosis membrane desalination devices, etc., to remove "most of the radionuclides".
So apart from most of it, what is the remaining small part?
This is the crux of the intense controversy.
Tritium is a major difficulty that cannot be overcome.
At present, there is no technology in the world that can completely treat the tritium in nuclear sewage.
The legal emission concentration of tritium in Japan is 60,000 becquerels per liter, and TEPCO will dilute the concentration to 1,500 becquerels per liter before discharging.
Barely enough?
However, studies have pointed out that although tritium has low toxicity, it has biological activity and can be metabolized by human cells to cause internal radiation, which is harmful to health.
In April 2021, the Japanese government decided to discharge the sewage from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, and the Japanese people protested.
Greenpeace criticized the Japanese government and Tepco for trying to divert attention.
In fact, the report shows that, in addition to tritium, ALPS technology also treats strontium-90 in dirty nuclear sewage.
The half-life of this element is about 29 years.
Fabiennek, head of the radiation protection department of the Jülich Research Center in Germany, proposed that strontium-90 is a carcinogen and will be absorbed by the bone structure after entering the human body. Once it is integrated into the crystal structure of the bone, it will not be discharged.
The leaked TEPCO internal documents also proved that the existing technology cannot reduce the radioactive elements such as cesium, chromium, iodine, ruthenium, rhodium, tellurium, etc. in nuclear sewage to the extent that they cannot be detected.
【Accidents occur frequently, speculation is constant】
In fact, as early as the early days of the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, TEPCO and the Japanese government were accused of withholding or delaying the release of information.
A member of the Japan Nuclear Experts Committee commented that TEPCO's response was "both passive and slow".
In the past few years, there have been speculations about the leakage of radioactive materials from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
One after another, the nuclear power plant proved to have too many problems.
In April 2021, Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" disclosed that TEPCO staff found that there was a gel-like object with a large amount of radiation near the liquid storage tank containing radioactive waste in the relevant nuclear power plant, and it was suspected that the tank was leaking due to corrosion.
Data map: The nuclear sewage water storage tank of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
In September of the same year, TEPCO announced that at least 29 filters in the nuclear sewage treatment plant were damaged.
The "Tokyo Shimbun" pointed out that Tepco had discovered the problem two years ago, but did not analyze the cause and put forward countermeasures, and continued to use it only by replacing it.
In October, the underground temperature of the "permafrost retaining wall" of the nuclear power plant increased abnormally. More than three months later, 4 tons of "retaining wall" refrigerant was found to leak.
On March 17, 2022, a strong earthquake of magnitude 6 or above occurred in Japan. The positions of 160 liquid storage tanks of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant shifted, 6 waste containers overturned, and the high-activity nuclear sewage water level of 1.8 meters in the containment of Unit 1 , lowered about 20 cm.
Some people suspect that Japan has already secretly discharged pollutants or caused nuclear leakage, and then publicly announced the decision to discharge, but it is only "post-mortem".
["Bombshell", nowhere to be placed]
Not only that, Japanese and Western media revealed that the most difficult thing to deal with is not nuclear sewage, but nuclear fuel residues that have "nowhere to be placed" so far.
It is like the second "Sword of Damocles", hanging above the human head.
After the units 1 to 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are cooled at low temperature, the internal radiation is very high, and it must rely on remote operations such as robots.
On March 25, Japan's Kyodo News reported that the underwater robot confirmed that there were new massive deposits inside the reactor containment vessel of Unit 1, which could not be ruled out as fuel debris.
Data map: For the first time, the pipe-tipping robot "touched" the core residue of Unit 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Japan's International Nuclear Decommissioning Research Institute, which is responsible for the research and development of nuclear power plant scrapping technology, speculates that the total weight of nuclear fuel residues generated in the Fukushima nuclear accident may range from 880 tons to more than 1,000 tons. How to remove and properly handle them has become the biggest challenge.
CNN quoted the view that nuclear fuel residues are the most dangerous of all radioactive wastes.
Once a person is improperly contacted, the most serious consequence is death.
It is very difficult to handle because of the extremely high temperatures, which require cooling for decades in temporary storage.
In order to prevent leakage, it must be buried in a solid site away from geological activities such as earthquakes and volcanoes, and the consent of local residents is also required.
TEPCO originally planned to try to remove nuclear fuel residues in 2021, but it was delayed by a year due to the impact of the new crown epidemic. This most difficult clean-up work failed to take a step.
According to reports, the relevant person in charge said that they will adhere to the medium and long-term roadmap and complete the scrapping of nuclear power plants between 2041 and 2051.
[Will polluting, endangering the world]
On April 13, 2021, when the then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced the way to deal with nuclear sewage, he said that "discharging it into the sea is the most practical way."
According to the plan of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, the government has previously discussed five nuclear sewage treatment methods. In addition to discharging into the sea, there are also steam release after vaporization, hydrogen release after electrolysis, underground burial and injection into the lithosphere.
But there are no examples of these four approaches, and there are too many unanswered questions in terms of regulations, technology and timing.
It takes the shortest time and the lowest economic cost to discharge into the sea.
For example, the budget of 43 billion yen announced by TEPCO this time is indeed "insignificant" compared with the 243.1 billion yen required for underground burial.
A rendering of the simulation effect of GEOMAR on the diffusion rate and impact of nuclear wastewater at the Helmholtz Center for Oceanographic Research in Kiel, Germany.
Image source: GEOMAR official website
Simulations by Germany's Kiel Helmholtz Center for Oceanographic Research (GEOMAR), which has global influence in the fields of climate and marine ecology, show that the Fukushima nuclear sewage will spread to most of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days from the date of its discharge. South Korea, China, Russia, etc. bear the brunt.
Within three years, the radiation will spread to the entire Pacific Ocean, not only the Pacific island countries, but also the United States, Canada, Australia, etc. will be spared.
Research by the Japan Ocean Research and Development Agency shows that the radioactive material cesium 134, which was leaked in Fukushima in 2011, spread into the Arctic Ocean about eight years after the accident.
Dofu Aoyama, a visiting professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, found that some cesium-137 traveled north after arriving on the west coast of the United States, and returned to the coast of Japan about seven to eight years later.
Everything is enough to show that Japan's plan will not only hurt many coastal countries, but also Japan itself.
The entire earth will pay a huge price in the next 30 years.
【Against the noise, turn a deaf ear】
Some comments pointed out that Japan's methods and results of nuclear sewage treatment have not been jointly monitored and recognized by all stakeholders, and they are just talking to themselves.
There is also news that the Japanese government is trying to "brainwash" elementary and middle school students, depicting the tritium element as a harmless and cute image in propaganda brochures.
The Japanese government simulated radioactive tritium as a cartoon "cute" character in its public relations campaign.
Image source: Japan "Tokyo Shimbun"
In fact, the opposition in Japan has never stopped.
Since 2020, the second generation of victims of nuclear explosions in Japan has submitted petitions twice, saying that they do not want the sequelae of nuclear radiation to repeat; civil organizations in Fukushima and Miyagi Prefecture submitted 180,000 joint signatures, calling for saving the local economy; Japan National Fisheries Association jointly It also reiterated its firm opposition.
Many countries have shown a clear attitude.
On April 13, 2022, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the Japanese government turned a deaf ear to international concerns and domestic public opinion. What the Japanese side should do now is not to try to make excuses to whitewash the wrong decision, but to act responsibly. Stakeholders, including neighboring countries, and relevant international institutions have fully consulted to find appropriate solutions.
Last year, Zhao Lijian posted a "remodeled picture" of a famous Japanese painting "Kana Tritium Surfing" by a Chinese illustrator, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the Japanese side and demanded that the post be deleted.
Zhao Lijian replied: "If you do something bad, don't let others tell you?", and once put the post to the top.
On April 15, 2021, slogans such as "Boycott Japanese Products" are displayed in the seafood sales area of a large supermarket in Seoul, South Korea.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zeng Nai
South Korea has boycotted and banned the sale of Japanese aquatic products in many places, and intends to file a lawsuit with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Polls show that 91% of the Koreans surveyed are willing to reduce the consumption of aquatic products because of this.
In 2021, 25 fishery groups jointly condemned Japan, and fishermen also assembled 350 fishing boats to protest.
Also because the Tokyo Olympics supplies Fukushima ingredients, the Korean delegation decided to prepare their own meals.
Russia is also seriously concerned about Japan's actions, and expects the Japanese government to "inform relevant countries about its actions that may pose a radiological threat." The UN Human Rights Commissioner even accused Japan's actions will cause endless harm.
【This big country, why the platform? 】
Amid the condemnation, the United States on the other side of the Pacific is Japan's "platform".
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken has thanked Japan for "transparency and openness" in announcing its emissions decision.
Hashimoto Junji, a researcher at Tokai Gakuen University in Japan, believes that Japan's nuclear sewage discharge is no longer a simple environmental protection issue, but a political issue that has risen to the field of international relations.
The then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga released a "huge shock bomb" during his visit to the United States, and his strategic intention of tying up the issue of nuclear sewage to exchange political interests with the United States is very obvious.
On the evening of March 16, local time, two strong earthquakes occurred in the waters off Japan.
The picture shows the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after the earthquake.
Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" pointed out that the US official agency, which has repeatedly claimed to have "global interests", believes that Japan's approach "appears to be in line with globally recognized nuclear safety standards."
The official use of the word "seems" by the US is not so much a scientific prudence as a diplomatic tact.
The tone of the article shows the acquiescence of the United States to Japan's actions.
Japan's "pick-up" may have internationalized the problem, forcing the international community to support Japan to bear some of the responsibilities.
The United States' "reserved support" for the Japanese government is more like evading the international responsibilities of a superpower.
(Finish)