In recent news making international headlines, it has been announced that Japan is expected to commence the flushing of 1.25 million tons of wastewater accumulated from the contentious Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean starting from 2023. This plan forms part of a USD 76-billion project aimed at the plant’s decommissioning, which the Japanese cabinet officially approved in 2021. The whole undertaking might take up to three decades to bring to fruition.
The Fukushima Disaster: A Brief Recap
In March 2011, the world watched as a magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a colossal tsunami that completely flooded and critically damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant located in Okuma, Japan. The unfortunate incident also caused the loss of power to the plant’s diesel generators, interrupting the vital supply of coolant to the reactors.
Further exacerbating the disaster, the tsunami rendered backup systems ineffective, and before long, radioactive materials began leaking from reactor pressure vessels, leading to explosions within the facility’s upper levels. This resulted in the exposure and distribution of radioactive material into the local environment – air, soil, water, and even to the surrounding population. Additionally, wind currents also dispersed the radioactive material into the Pacific Ocean. Since the catastrophe, both the power plant and its proximate land have remained uninhabitable.
The Dilemma of Releasing Radioactive Water
The decision to release the radioactive water, used to cool the reactors and contaminated with radioactive isotopes from the damaged reactors, into the Pacific Ocean has sparked heated debates and raised several concerns. The chief among them is the evident health risks that come with radiation exposure. It’s widely understood that there’s no level of radiation that has been deemed safe; hence, any discharge of radioactive materials heightens the risk of cancer and other health conditions.
Furthermore, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which runs the Fukushima facility, has not managed to remove tritium from the water, a task deemed technically challenging. Tritium, easily absorbed by living organisms and quickly distributed via blood, is a cause for concern. Additionally, other radionuclides that couldn’t be wholly eliminated by TEPCO’s treatment process, including isotopes of ruthenium and plutonium, pose potential long-term ecological risks to marine life and the seafloor ecosystem.
Water Flushing Versus Wastewater Treatment: Selecting the Lesser Evil
Initially, TEPCO had plans to treat the wastewater. However, due to inadequate storage room for the large water-tanks required for this purpose, it decided on the option of releasing the water. Complicating matters, Japan cannot indefinitely store the water given tritium’s half-life of about 12-13 years. Half-life refers to the time a radioactive substance takes for its quantity to diminish by half through radioactive decay.
The Way Forward: A Plea for More Research and Longer Storage Time
On the path forward, various parties, including a representative from the Pacific Islands Forum, have called for thorough studies to ascertain the precise composition of each tank before being flushed out and for detailed information about TEPCO’s water-treatment process. Despite tritium’s half-life, it’s suggested that the water could be stored for an extended period before being discharged. This delay would enable a reduction in the concentration of other radioactive isotopes present in the water, consequently reducing its overall radioactivity.
This entire situation emphasizes the delicate balance that must be struck between the need for nuclear energy and the potential for nuclear disaster, which remains one of the most challenging issues in contemporary times.
