The Fukushima Plant's discharge of wastewater into the sea: Views from four sides

The Fukushima plant started releasing wastewater into the sea on August 24. China, South Korea, Taiwan, Russia, and North Korea immediately reacted strongly, and China even banned the import of seafood from Japan. This incident terrified even Japanese fishermen.

(The wastewater storage area of the Fukushima Daiichi plant in February 2021. Photo: Reuters)

In this article, different points of view from 4 sides will be provided and analyzed to make a larger, more comprehensive picture for all readers. 

An Unified View

All countries acknowledge that nuclear power plants around the world have been releasing cooling water into the sea and into the air. “Nuclear power plants around the world have regularly discharged water containing tritium for more than 60 years without harm to people or the environment,” said Tony Irwin, honorary associate professor at the Australian National University.

(Tony Irwin, Australian national university honorary associate professor - Photo: Bloomberg)

Japan gives discharge data of each nuclear power plant in nuclear powers around the world, and the majority of the total tritium discharged into the sea by these plants is far greater than the quantity of tritium released by Fukushima. The quantity of tritium released is specifically as follows:

1) Fukushima Plant (Japan): 22 trillion Bq per year.

2) UK: In 2019, 423 trillion Bq was released into the sea. In 2015, 1,625 trillion Bq was released into the sea and into the air.

3) France: In 2015, La Hague released 13,778 trillion Bq into the sea and atmosphere.

4) Canada: In 2015, 495 trillion Bq was discharged.

5) South Korea: Kori Nuclear Power Plant (Busan) discharged 50 trillion Bq of tritium and Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant discharged an additional 25 trillion Bq into the sea (2018). The Wolseong nuclear power plant discharged 17 trillion Bq into the sea (2016).

6) China: In 2021, Qinshan Power Plant (Zhejiang) discharged 218 trillion Bq. The Fuqing power plant (Fujian) released three times more tritium than Fukushima.

Note: tritium is an isotope that cannot be filtered out and the Becquerel (Bq) is the internationally accepted unit for measuring the intensity and mass of radioactivity.

All sides acknowledge these facts, no one disputes it.

Chinese and Korean View

China, South Korea, and Taiwan all admit that "all nuclear plants regularly discharge wastewater into the sea, but the Fukushima discharge is a special problem." The reason is because the water in other nuclear power plants around the world is wastewater from normally operating nuclear plants, the water is only used to cool the outer shell of the nuclear plant. As for the wastewater in Fukushima, it is the wastewater of the plant that suffered the earthquake, and the cooling water was directly exposed to an area with much higher radiation levels. China's representative accused Japan of “turning into an ecological destroyer and polluting the ocean”.

China and Russia have a common suggestion that Japan should use the method of heating and then evaporating water, which will be safer and less toxic than releasing it into the sea. The reason Japan chose to discharge wastewater into the sea was purely for economic reasons.

Explanation from Japan Side

According to Japan, their advanced liquid processing system (ALPS) removed the majority of radioactive substances and radioactive isotopes from wastewater. Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is the only radioactive isotope left that cannot be removed by filtering, and it can be found in effluent from all other nuclear power facilities in the globe.

This means that after filtering through ALPS, wastewater at the Fukushima plant is similar to wastewater from all nuclear power plants in China, Korea, England, France, America, and Canada; and the high or low radiation levels of each plant have already been converted to Bq tritium.

To be objective, Japan has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and monitoring agency of the United Nations to participate in research and monitoring; and Japan’s discharge plan was approved by the IAEA and the United Nations.

Japan collects daily samples of fish caught in Fukushima seas to check for radioactive contamination in order to guarantee safety and soothe public concern. The results show that up to now, no radioactivity has been detected in the sampled fish

Japan believes that China's opposition is political. The reason is because if China says that wastewater released from Fukushima is contaminated with radiation, sea water is polluted, marine seafood is contaminated with radiation, then it is inevitable that seafood from China, Korea, and Taiwan will also be contaminated, so why do they only ban the import of seafood from Japan?

Scientist and International Opinions

The Fukushima disposal plan was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the IAEA has committed to continuously monitoring and assessing the wastewater release process from the beginning and throughout its decades-long duration.

Many doctors and professors from Chalmers University (Sweden), Imperial College London, University of Portsmouth (UK), Auckland (New Zealand), Australian National University… agree that the effluent from the Fukushima plant has been filtered, diluted, and is at an acceptable level according to Fukushima's plan, which was approved by the IAEA.

After initial protests, on Wednesday, August 23, South Korea signaled its support for Japan's discharge of nuclear waste into the sea. Seoul said it "respects" the assessment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on this matter and recognizes the IAEA as a reputable, internationally recognized agency" (according to Yonhap News).