Fukushima: Japan believes that "there is no other choice" than to pour radioactive water into the ocean

Japanese Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada said Tuesday that the only option to get rid of radioactive water of the Fukushima nuclear power plant is throw it in the Pacific Ocean. These statements come one month after the company operating the facility announced that it would run out of space in the next three years to store the contaminated liquid.

"I believe that there is no choice but to pour radioactive water into the sea"Harada was sentenced at a press conference during which he took stock of his management as a portfolio manager of the environment, a day before the reform of his Prime Minister's Office. Japanese Shinzo Abe.

Since the tsunami that devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011, the company owns the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), he accumulated more than a million tons of radioactive water used to cool damaged reactors.

Despite special treatment, these liquids remain contaminants and remain deposited in large tanks What By 2022, they will reach their maximum capacity.

Given the proximity of the date, TEPCO recommended the release of water into the ocean Pacific, an initiative recognized by scientists specializing in the field, including by members of the International Atomic Energy Agency, as "the only realistic".

In this sense, the Harada Declaration is not just a wink important in the direction of the company's proposalbut departs from the government's previous position in favor of local fishermen's badociations, who fear the consequences that the spill could have on their activity.

Despite the concern of the inhabitants of the region, the water accumulating in Fukushima is subject to treatment to remove all radioactive isotopes except tritiumthe which is not considered dangerous to human health below certain levels.

In this regard, TEPCO stated that Other nuclear power plants in the country are already dumping the sea with this element in small amounts regularly. In fact The company itself has already done it several times since 2015, rejecting hundreds of tons of treated water with a tritium volume of between 330 and 600 becquereles per liter, less than the 1,500 that the Japanese law sets as limit.

For the moment, and despite the approval of Harada, the measure will continue to be debated by the government committee that oversees the decommissioning of the plant.