The Japanese say that the nuclear sewage can be drunk, and on the other hand, they secretly send the workers who were splashed by the nuclear sewage to the hospital, this double standard is clear, then China produces 3,200 tons of nuclear waste a year, accounting for one-third of the world's total, how do we deal with it safely and efficiently?
Sudden accident in Japan's handling of nuclear wastewater
On the morning of October 25, five Japanese workers were cleaning the internal pipes of the nuclear sewage facility when the pipe connected to the nuclear sewage water tank suddenly cracked, causing about 100 milliliters of nuclear sewage to splash on the workers.
Even though the five staff members were wearing full protective equipment, four of them were exposed to radioactive materials on their bodies, and after an emergency cleaning, they were sent to the hospital for observation, which is contrary to what they said before, that the treated nuclear sewage has reached drinking standards.
But then again, China is the country with the highest power generation, producing nearly 30% of the world's electricity by itself. In 2022, China's nuclear power generation capacity will be 417.78 billion kilowatts, and the number of commercial nuclear power units will be 54, with a total installed capacity of 568.2 billion kilowatts, ranking third in the world after the United States and France.
How China handles nuclear waste
Before answering this question, we must first understand what is the difference between the nuclear wastewater produced in Japan and the nuclear wastewater produced in the mainland. The so-called nuclear wastewater is the wastewater generated by the normal operation of the nuclear power plant, such as the cooling water used to cool the nuclear reactor, which will not directly contact the nuclear fuel in the nuclear reactor core, and there is no need to worry about the leakage of nuclear fuel in the core.
This is because the reactor is surrounded from the inside to the outside by three barriers: the fuel element cladding, the pressure vessel and the containment. Safety: For example, the containment vessel has a 1-meter-thick prestressed reinforced concrete outer wall and a 6-millimeter-thick steel plate on the inner wall, which can withstand earthquakes and even aircraft impacts, and it is difficult for radioactive materials to leak out.
Therefore, tritium, the radioactive isotope that mainly contains hydrogen in nuclear wastewater, only needs to concentrate the radioactive elements in it, discharge it into the deep sea after reaching the standard of drinking, and use the deep-sea current to quickly dilute and diffuse.
There are usually three treatment methods, one is the precipitation method, which reduces the content of radioactive elements in nuclear wastewater through the co-precipitation reaction of precipitants such as aluminum and iron and radioactive elements. The second is the adsorption method, that is, the adsorbent with developed internal pore structure and strong adsorption capacity, such as activated carbon and zeolite, will adsorb out radioactive elements.
The other is the ion exchange method, the radioactive ions contained in the nuclear wastewater are mostly cations, so the use of the positively charged active groups in the exchanger and the ions in the nuclear wastewater to exchange, the radioactive ions can be converted into the exchanger, so as to safely and effectively treat the nuclear wastewater.
Japan's nuclear wastewater
In 2011, Japan suffered a major earthquake, and the reactors of two units of the Fukushima nuclear power plant exploded, causing the reactor core to melt.
The water is in direct contact with the nuclear fuel in the core, and the water contains dozens of radioactive materials such as plutonium and cesium, which is extremely harmful to the human body and the environment.
From the reaction of the operators who were contaminated with nuclear wastewater, we can know that the nuclear sewage treated by Japan is not as safe as they say, so discharging it into the sea is completely harmful to others and not beneficial to themselves, what do you think?
Bibliography:
[1] Japan's nuclear sewage is still being discharged: while saying that it can be drunk, it sends people to the hospital - Times Weekly
[2] Verification: Japanese official who publicly drank nuclear-contaminated treated water died of cancer 3 years ago? ——Phoenix Information
[3] The mainland has the third largest installed nuclear power capacity in the world and the second largest nuclear power generation capacity in China – China's Nuclear Energy Development Report 2023
[4] Nuclear contaminated water ≠ nuclear wastewater! The essence is different, not to be confused! - China Daily
[5] Oppose it! Nuclear wastewater can also be treated like this - image news