The Japanese government’s intention to release polluted water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean has been met with criticism from neighboring countries. Nevertheless, construction of a submerged tunnel to drain the contaminated water is nearly finished, and it is anticipated that discharge will persist for no less than 28 years. The difficulty comes from having more than 1000 tanks storing radioactive wastewater, and by summertime all of these containers will be full. The authorities intend to discontinue storing the contaminated water and instead put it into the sea. Multi-nuclide removal systems will be utilized to process the majority of radioactive materials, with the exception of tritium. This element will be diluted in ocean water before being disposed of.
Fishermen in Japan fear the consequences of discharging contaminated water, as they have already been hurt by the 2011 disaster in Fukushima. The government plans to close the nuclear power plant by 2051, but it will still pour polluted water into the ocean for some time.
Recently, Korean researchers from the Institute of Ocean Science and Technology and Atomic Energy Research Institute demonstrated that Korea would not experience significant harm if Japan released water contaminated with tritium into the ocean. People across Japan have been expressing their hopes that the Korean government will not oppose this release.
Ultimately, the debate about whether or not to let contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant flow into the ocean is still ongoing. Both fishermen and other countries have raised concerns about this. Japan’s government intends to treat most of the radioactive material before releasing it, but there are worries about them continuing to release tritium into the sea.