On June 7, on the eve of World Oceans Day, Fukushima's nuclear-contaminated water drainage plan ushered in new progress. IAEA Director General Grossi said the IAEA would monitor and review the safety and transparency of the implementation of Fukushima's nuclear contaminated water drainage program.
However, on June 1, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was again revealed to have found a leak of nuclear waste containers, and the concentration of radioactive cesium in the spilled sewage exceeded 76 times the normal standard.
"Three points of land, seven points of ocean", what kind of impact will The Fukushima nuclear sewage discharge plan have, or has it already had, on our "blue planet"?
The unknown is not "harmful"
It's "how harmful it is."
For a long time, in the face of fierce opposition from the international community, the Japanese government has tried to confuse the public, claiming that many countries around the world discharge sewage from nuclear power plants into the sea, and that Japan's treated nuclear sewage standards are very high. The Japanese government has also repeatedly stressed that the multi-nuclide treatment system (ALPS) developed by TEPCO has the ability to remove most nuclides, and the tritium element that is difficult to remove will be treated at levels as low as harmless to the human body, so the treated nuclear sewage is "safe".
Schematic diagram of the ALPS processing system
However, there is a fundamental difference between the normal drainage of nuclear power plants and the water contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear accident, which is nuclear wastewater flowing through the core of a molten-damaged reactor and containing large amounts of radionuclides produced by nuclear fission that do not exist in nature, which will have a non-negligible impact on the marine environment and public health.
In 2015, Canada discovered Fukushima nuclear sewage in the surrounding waters
On the other hand, it is also very doubtful whether the ALPS system is really as effective as the Japanese government claims.
In fact, tokyo electric power companies and Japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry also admitted in a march 2021 report that 70% of nuclear waste that has been treated by the ALPS system contains a total of 62 nuclides that exceed emission standards. Among them, the content of strontium-90 elements is 100 times that of the emission standard, and the content of cobalt, rhodium, iodine, cesium and other elements also exceeds the emission standards. According to expert analysis, taking the strontium-90 element as an example, this nuclide may remain in the bones and teeth after entering the human body through fish, and accumulate to a certain amount that will induce bone cancer or leukemia.
Professor Ken Bourselle, a marine chemistry scientist at the Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography in the United States, said in an interview with foreign media: "Unless we can know what radioactive nuclear elements are contained in each barrel of nuclear sewage, it is difficult for us to estimate the impact of emissions on humans and the natural world, and the so-called 'discharge plan' cannot be started at all." ”
While the extent to which the discharge of nuclear wastewater affects the natural world remains unknown, news of fish detecting radioactive nuclear elements in the waters off Fukushima is not uncommon. As recently as February 24, 2021, the local fisheries association in Fukushima detected cesium that exceeded safety standards by five times in a black grouper caught.
This is not an isolated case, but there are already traces to follow:
In August 2012, more than a year after the Fukushima nuclear accident, grouper caught by fishermen within 20 kilometers of the nuclear power plant was detected to contain cesium that exceeded emission standards by 258 times;
In 2015, salmon caught in Lake Osoyoos, Canada, were detected to contain cesium;
In 2018, small finned rosefish caught within 20 kilometers of the Fukushima nuclear power plant were found to contain cesium up to 18 times higher than emission standards.
Research from the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom shows that long-term exposure of marine life to seawater containing radioactive elements can cause damage to its genes. Awadhesh Jha, a professor of genetic toxicology and environmental toxicology who conducted the experiment, believes that this genetic damage is likely to occur in humans as well, in addition to the increase in cancer incidence, it is also possible to pass on to the next generation through genetic changes.
There is no global precedent for sewage discharge due to nuclear accidents, and its specific impact on the sea and marine life is currently difficult to quantify, but what is unknown is not "harmful", but "how harmful", which should not be confused.
Nearby sea drain or offshore sea discharge?
It will bring about fundamental changes for thousands of years
Even though it knows that the harm of nuclear sewage discharging into the sea is so great, the Japanese government still dares to risk the world's great disobedience to discharge nuclear sewage into the sea.
Japan's Sankei Shimbun revealed last month that Tokyo Electric Power Company is focusing on two sets of nuclear sewage discharge plans: nearby discharge and offshore discharge.
In January 2020, an employee of Tokyo Electric Power Company used a Geiger counter next to a water storage tank at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
The offshore discharge scheme reportedly involves laying a 1-kilometer-long submarine pipeline from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to the sea and then discharging nuclear contaminated water into the sea. TEPCO plans to begin a seabed survey at the end of September this year in preparation for the discharge of nuclearly contaminated water, and will begin laying a pipeline on the seabed to discharge nuclearly contaminated water in February next year, which is expected to take a year and a half to complete.
However, because offshore discharges need to be investigated for the state of the seabed, as well as explanations to local fishermen, and because the storage tanks for storing nuclear waste are expected to fill up next fall, TEPCO is also considering discharging near the east coast of the nuclear power plant.
At the same time, TEPCO also plans to set up a water outlet in the northern waters of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to dilute nuclear wastewater with seawater, and the specific plan needs to be submitted to the Japan Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission for review. It is reported that the relevant preparation and review work usually takes 2 years, so TEPCO will try its best to shorten the preparation time.
However, is there a difference in the essence of nearby or offshore discharge?
Nothing.
Liu Xinhua, chief expert of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, pointed out that whether Japan discharges wastewater from near shore or in the open ocean public sea, radionuclides will spread with ocean currents in the North Pacific Ocean, and the waters under the jurisdiction of Japan's neighboring countries will inevitably be affected by transboundary pollution of radioactive materials.
In April 2021, people rallied in front of the Fukushima Prefectural Government to protest the Japanese government's decision to discharge nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
The Fukushima nuclear sewage discharge plan has been strongly criticized and solemnly protested by the international community, especially the neighboring countries, and what is even more shocking is that the Japanese government, instead of solving the problem in a responsible manner, has "twisted its brain" in public relations in an attempt to "brainwash" the people and the world. According to reports, in the 2021 budget of the Japan Reconstruction Agency, the public relations expenditure related to the Fukushima nuclear accident was significantly increased to 2 billion yen, which is four times that of 2020. Some commentators believe that the budget increase is a preparation for the Japanese side to cope with the opposition caused by the fukushima nuclear sewage discharge. This extremely selfish and self-serving attitude of the Japanese Government has aroused strong indignation and dissatisfaction in the international community.
How harmful is nuclear sewage into the sea?
In the present moment, the answer may be hidden in the jar of silent water storage. But what people can know is that science magazine published a study on Fukushima nuclear wastewater in August 2020, which showed that the extremely long-lived radioactive nuclear elements contained in Fukushima nuclear wastewater are easily absorbed by seabed sediments and marine life, causing fundamental changes to the marine environment for thousands of years.
【Author】 Zou Feixu, Zhang Yin
【Planner】Chen Meiyu