Beginning of a controversial operation. Japan began this Thursday its operation to discharge water into the Pacific Ocean from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The complex process was initiated shortly after 1 p.m. after a brief countdown, according to a live video broadcast by Tepco, the plant operator. This first spill should last about 17 days and relate to some 7,800 m3 of water from the plant containing tritium, a radioactive substance which is only dangerous in highly concentrated doses.
This Japanese project is causing concern and anger among some Asian neighbors. Following the start of this maneuver, Beijing denounced a “selfish and irresponsible” action, which announced Thursday to suspend all its imports of seafood products from Japan. On the South Korean side, more than ten people were arrested for having tried to enter the Japanese embassy in Seoul, during a demonstration to denounce the discharges into the sea of water from Fukushima, police announced to the AFP. Japanese fishermen also fear an impact on the image of their products.
1.3 million m3 of wastewater will be discharged in total
Tepco plans three other spills by the end of March, for volumes equivalent to the first. In total, Japan plans to evacuate into the Pacific Ocean more than 1.3 million m3 of wastewater stored until now on the site of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, from rainwater, groundwater underground and injections needed to cool the cores of reactors that went into meltdown after the March 2011 tsunami that devastated the country’s northeast coast.
This process will be very gradual – it should last until the 2050s – and the tritiated water content in the daily discharges into the sea will not exceed 500 m3. The water has been filtered beforehand to remove most of its radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which oversees the disposal operation, gave the green light in July, judging that the project met “international safety standards” and that it will have a radiological impact. “negligible on the population and the environment”.