The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, affected by the 2011 nuclear accident after an earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale that caused a tsunami on the northeast coast of the Japanese country, is almost at the limit of not being able to withstand any more stored water.
After a year of uncertainty, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said the release of the water into the ocean is “inevitable” and has announced that they will begin to discharge water to the Pacific in about two years , approximately. There are more than 1.2 million tons of accumulated water – a massive amount of water contaminated by radiation.
The most realistic option
The decision has been endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency and some independent experts.
And it is that the containment tanks are almost to the limit. More than 1,000 were built to store the water that had entered the reactor or was used to cool the fuel. They are expected to be fully filled in 2022 if no action is taken, and the possibility of releasing some of this water was already on the table last year to buy some time to consider alternative suggestions.
The tanks contain high levels of radioactive tritium (hydrogen with two neutrons) and the water was also initially contaminated with heavier elements like cesium-137 , which are much more dangerous, but also easier to remove. They have already managed to remove the cesium from a quarter of the storage tanks.
Treated, non-radioactive water
The water must be filtered again to remove harmful isotopes and will be diluted to meet international standards before any release, according to the Japanese government.
There is already more than 1.25 million tons of water accumulated in the nuclear plant, an amount that increases by about 140 tons every day, enough to fill about 500 Olympic swimming pools. What will happen when it drains into the sea? Local fishing is going to be the most affected by this discharge into the ocean. The researcher at the Ionizing Radiation Laboratory of the University of Salamanca Begoña Quintana already explained to MUY that “the fish and aquatic plants in the environment in which the tritiated water is poured will assimilate and concentrate the tritium, and the thresholds will surely be exceeded. from which it is considered that a food is not suitable for consumption ”.
Consequences
The fishermen of Fukushima have been quick to show their disapproval of this announcement. Toru Takahashi, director of the Fukushima Trawler Association clarified that “we cannot accept the release of water into the ocean. No one will buy fish from the sea where the water is discharged. Everyone will think that Japanese fish is dangerous. “
Neighboring countries such as China and South Korea have also expressed concern over the discharge of contaminated water.
Work to release the diluted water will begin in about two years and the entire process is expected to take about two decades to complete. Some scientists suggest that the long-term impact on marine life of exposure to low doses of such large volumes of water is unknown.
