Japan may dump ONE MILLION tonnes of radioactive water from Fukushima nuclear disaster into the sea
JAPAN could dump one million tonnes of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the sea.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant suffered a disastrous meltdown in 2011 when it was hit by a earthquake-triggered tsunami, releasing large amounts of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean.
About a million tonnes of contaminated water has built up since then and the tanks that hold it are almost full.
A Japanese ministry's proposal suggested a controlled released of the radioactive water into the Pacific.
The government's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy yesterday proposed three ways to deal with the build-up of water: releasing it into the sea, into the air using vaporisation or a combination of the two.
The release would take years and radiation levels would be kept below the legal limit, the propossal added.
An agency official said today: "There is no option (any longer) of simply storing the water for a long period of time."
The ministry said a controlled release of the water is the best option because it would stably dilute and disperse it and can be properly monitored.
In the past, Fukushima fishermen and the National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations have strongly opposed any suggestions to release radioactive water into the sea.
They warn of the "immeasurable impact on the future of the Japanese fishing industry" as some local fishermen still unable to resume full operations after the 2011 disaster.
'REALISTIC WAY'
The plant has an extensive pumping and filtration system where it filters out almost all the radioactive elements except for tritium.
However, experts say only is harmful to human in large doses.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, said most of the water stored at the plant still contains other radioactive elements including cancer-causing cesium and strontium and needs further treatment.
No decision was reached at yesterday's meeting.
Experts, including those from the International Atomic Energy Agency who have inspected the Fukushima plant, have supported the controlled release of the water into the sea as the only realistic option.
Naoya Sekiya, a University of Tokyo sociologist and an expert on disasters and social impact, said releasing the radioactive water was a realistic option, but would the social impact would be huge.
The agency official said that no one voiced an opposing view that "a technically realistic way is discharging the water into the sea or the air".
Discussions how to dispose of the radioactive water have been going on for years and the panel does not have a deadline on when they have to report it to the government.
The radioactive water comes from different sources, including water used for cooling at the plant groundwater and rainwater.
The treated water is currently kept in 1,000 massive tanks at the site.
TEPCO is building more tanks but say all will be full by the summer of 2022.
What was the Fukushima nuclear disaster?
The nuclear accident happened on March 11, 2011 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi site in northern Japan.
It is second worst nuclear accident in the history of nucelar power generation.
A tsunami that was triggered by an earthquake damaged the backup generators at the plant.
All three of reactors that were operating were successfully shutdown, but the loss of power caused the cooling systems to fail with in the first few days afterwards.
The government was forced to declare an 20-km evacation zone and 154,000 residents has to flee.
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