Figure 1. Fukushima Prefecture is located on Japan's eastern Pacific coast at the southernmost part of the Tōhoku region, and is home to Lake Inawashiro, the fourth-largest lake in Japan. Source: Pexels
On 11 March 2011, the world witnessed the horror of another nuclear accident. The Nuclear Power Station tragedy at Daiichi, Fukushima, Japan, turned the public's opinion against nuclear technology in several states, as the amount of radioactive waste emitted as a result, caused a significant loss to the country and a nuclear crisis that is unfortunately still unfolding.
The Fukushima accident was caused by the magnitude-9.1 Great East Japan Earthquake accompanied by a 15-meter-high devastating tsunami that caused a power outage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Lacking electricity, the power plants overheated, so units 1, 2 and 3 exploded, releasing huge amounts of a radioactive isotope into the atmosphere. As a result, over 100,000 people were forced to evacuate the area. Some parts of Fukushima remain uninhabitable to this date. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) placed the severity level of the nuclear emergency to 7—the highest level on the scale—placing it in the same category as the Chernobyl accident, which had occurred in the Soviet Union in 1986.
Figure 2. The magnitude-9.0 Great Tōhoku Earthquake of 2011 initiated a series of large tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas of the country causing 19,300 confirmed deaths. Source: Unsplash.
On 13 April 2021, marking ten years after the devastating incident, the Japanese government announced its intention to gradually release one million tonnes of radioactive water used to cool the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s nuclear reactors, into the Pacific Ocean. The government said it is the best way to deal with tritium and trace amounts of other radionuclides in the water, and the gradual, trial releases could start in two years and might take up to 40 years to complete. According to industry organisations and nuclear scientists, other states, have disposed of wastewater in this manner with negligible consequences.
Figure 3. Radiation levels found in the Fukushima area are far above internationally recommended limits. People living here would receive the yearly maximum dose of radioactivity within a few days. Source: Unsplash.
Environmentalists, NGOs, fishing associations and surrounding nations, on the other hand, slammed the ruling, citing the enormous sums involved. Marine scientists have also voiced concern about the discharge's potential effects on marine life and ecosystems. While Japan said that the tritium levels are very low and do not pose a threat to human health, scientists warn that in the water, the isotope organically binds to other molecules, moving up the food chain affecting plants, fish and humans. According to experts, the Japanese government's plans to release this water into the Pacific Ocean will open a new round of effects with a more immediate threat to the fishing and agricultural activities of the people of the greater Fukushima area.
Neighbouring countries such as China and South Korea have also expressed strong concern about the decision, with South Korean protesters calling the move “nuclear terrorism”. South Korean President Moon Jae-In called on his government officials to consider whether the country can appeal to the International Court of Justice, or take the issue to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), countries should take all necessary measures to ensure pollution is within their jurisdiction or control and does not extend beyond their sovereign areas, making the decision a direct breach of Japan’s legal commitments.
Figure 4. More than 30 South Korean college students shaved their heads in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul to protest Japan's decision to release water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. Source: Pexels.
It is important to understand that local sustainable agricultural and fishing communities in Fukushima are still trying to recover from the catastrophic events of March 2011 that irreversibly and permanently altered their lives. According to locals, continuous control of agricultural products is required, as well as full compensation to all affected communities by the Japanese government, while the cancellation of the deliberate release of the contaminated water in the environment is considered necessary.
It is true that the Japanese government cannot easily support the intentional disposal of radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean in the twenty-first century, when the earth and, in particular, the world's oceans face so many challenges and risks. It is vital that the Japanese Government examines all the potential threats to human health and the planet and exhaust all possible alternatives to disposal, with as little environmental impact as possible, so that human safety and environmental protection are key objectives.