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“Japan has not used a safe disposal method, despite domestic and foreign inquiries and opposition,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying Russia Today, Tuesday (13/4/2021).
China is calling for the government’s decision by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to dump more than one million tonnes of wastewater into the sea is extraordinarily irresponsible.
“This will seriously damage the health and safety of the international public and the vital interests of the people of neighboring countries,” Beijing said.
“Japan may not initiate disposal into the sea without authorization until full consultation and agreement with various interested countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” China added.
The government in Tokyo announced Tuesday that they will allow the discharge of wastewater, which contains the radioactive isotope hydrogen tritium, from storage tanks in Fukushima into the sea within a year or two.
Also read: Japan will dump 1.25 million tons of Fukushima nuclear water into the sea
The Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima prefecture was devastated after being hit by an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and a tsunami as high as 15 meters in March 2011. It was the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union.
Japan’s power plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Holdings, expects to run out of storage space as early as fall 2022.
“The water that comes from tritiated has been treated in a process that removes other radioactive materials, including highly toxic strontium and cesium,” said TEPCO.
Japan says there is no practical way to remove tritium from water, and the IAEA has supported its plans to dump waste into the ocean.
(ian)
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