Fukushima Nuclear Release: Is it Really that Dangerous?
Around a decade ago, Japan experienced the most powerful earthquake and tsunami ever recorded. With almost 20,000 dead and over 340,000 residents displaced, the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami still have lasting effects on Japan today. The most notable impact the tsunami had on Japan was the Fukushima nuclear disaster, where the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant experienced three nuclear breakdowns and hydrogen explosions. But how is it still relevant today and why are Koreans so angry about it?
Via Nocutnews
To start, the Fukushima nuclear disaster was a direct result of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. When the 9.0 magnitude earthquake first struck, it did not damage the nuclear reactors themselves. However, there was damage done to the external power sources that provided electricity to pumps that regulated the reactors’ cores, causing the emergency diesel generators to start regulating temperature. Not long after, the 14-foot tsunami waves crashed over the seawalls of the Daiichi nuclear power plant and flooded it. The diesel generators flooded and stopped working, which meant that the reactor cooling system completely shut off. This eventually led to the reactors overheating and producing hydrogen gas, causing three of the reactors to explode.
Labeled as a level seven on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), the Fukushima nuclear disaster was the only nuclear disaster alongside Chernobyl to obtain this classification. After the explosions occurred, Japan started disaster management and used large volumes of water to stabilize and cool the meltdown of the reactors. Consequently, tons of water have been used over the years in an attempt to mitigate further release of radioactive materials. Over the past 12 years, 1.37 million tons of contaminated water have been stored in tanks on-site and are expected to reach capacity by 2024, requiring more to be built. Building more tanks, however, would mean higher expenses for the government, and more notably, a constant reminder to Japanese society of what happened in 2011.
So, as a way to remedy this, the Japanese government planned to release the water into the ocean. Japan is using the Advanced Liquid Purification System (ALPS) to purify the contaminated water and remove most of the radioactive material, yet one main contaminant will remain: tritium, a radioactive isotope (different number of neutrons) of hydrogen. While it is possible to remove tritium from water, its chemical properties are very similar to that of hydrogen, thus making it very hard to purify the contaminated water. Technologies to purify small amounts of water do exist, but an industrial purification system has yet to be developed.
Japan has taken steps to ensure the proper release of contaminated water while being cautious of the possible implications it may have on the environment. Regarding tritium, it is not necessarily dangerous and is a common byproduct of most nuclear reactors all over the world. Japan plans to release tritiated water at a concentration lower than 1,500 Bq/L, significantly lower than the international tritium drinking water limit of 7,000 Bq/L. Japan will be releasing 22 TBq of tritium, which is also significantly lower than other countries’ radioactive leakage. For instance, the La Hague reprocessing plant in France released 11,400 TBq of tritium in 2018 and faced little to no reprimand or recognition by the global community. Both UN watchdogs and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have signed off on the plan, with an IAEA report stating that the purified water would have “a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.”
Via NoCutNews
However, despite IAEA’s approval, many neighboring countries, namely South Korea and China, have expressed their concerns. Specifically in Korea, although the Korean government has publicly endorsed Japan’s plans to release the water, 84% of the Korean public still remains apprehensive about the long-term impacts of tritium on both humans and the environment. Sea salt prices in Korea rose to 32% during June and early July, and much of the Korean public has vowed to decrease their seafood consumption, particularly seafood captured near Japan and the Pacific Ocean. It’s understandable why so many people are afraid of the plans; consuming food from an ocean with purified radioactive water in it can be frightening.
But much of this fear and disapproval of Japan’s plans stems from distrust in both the Korean and Japanese governments. Liberal opponents of President Yoon Suk-Yeol’s government have implied that Yoon’s government is “putting the nation’s health at risk by desperately trying to improve relations with Tokyo.” The democratic party of Korea (DP) has also accused the Japanese Foreign Ministry of colluding with IAEA officials to corroborate their plans and questioned the credibility of the official IAEA report. These accusations don’t hold any merit as the IAEA is neutral and holds no political motive to support Japan.
While apprehension and objections to the plans will continue to remain, scientific evidence and thorough research prove that the release of purified water from Fukushima should not harm humans or the environment, given that all purification procedures work accordingly. Chung Yong-hoon, a professor of nuclear and quantum engineering at KAIST claimed that the “water should be diluted by the time it travels a few kilometers from Fukushima,” and that by that point the concentration of tritium in the water should be diluted to about 1 Bq/L, which is “what we have anyway in the Han River now.” With neutral reports published by both the IAEA and the Korean Nuclear Safety and Security Commission supporting Japan’s plans to release the contaminated water into the ocean, it’s harder to steer away from the scientific truth.