31,200 tons of contaminated water will be discharged by March next year
▲ Prime Minister Kishida promoting eating products from Fukushima
On the 30th of last month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is eating seafood and agricultural products from Fukushima with Japanese government officials at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo. Prime Minister Kishida’s Facebook video capture As the 24th marks one month since the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company began discharging contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean, the second discharge is scheduled to resume at the end of this month. Radioactive materials were detected in 7,800 tons of contaminated water to be released for the second time, but Tokyo Electric Power Company plans to discharge the contaminated water as planned, saying it meets the discharge standards.
According to Tokyo Electric Power Company, the second discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant will begin at the end of this month as soon as preparations such as facility inspection are completed. The first discharge began on the 24th of last month, and 7,800 tons of contaminated water was discharged into the sea by the 11th. The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company decided to discharge 31,200 tons of contaminated water by March of next year, an amount equivalent to about 2% of the contaminated water stored at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Company emphasizes that there are no problems with its plan to discharge contaminated water. As a result of analyzing the contaminated water scheduled for secondary discharge, four types of radionuclides, including carbon-14, cesium-137, cobalt-60, and iodine-129, were detected among the 29 radionuclides to be measured. However, Tokyo Electric Power Company said, “The results of this sample analysis, including not only the 29 types of measurement target but also 39 types of nuclides and tritium that are autonomously confirmed, were confirmed to meet the discharge standards,” and released 2 contaminated water as planned. I decided to dump the car.
Although the amount of tritium in seawater increased slightly after the first discharge of contaminated water, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company explained that there was no safety problem. When discharging contaminated water, the tritium concentration was set to less than 10 ㏃ (becquerel) per liter. Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, Fukushima Prefecture, and the Fisheries Agency each collected seawater and analyzed tritium concentrations, and all were detected below the standard level. However, on the 31st of last month, 10 ㏃ of tritium per liter was detected in seawater collected by Tokyo Electric Power Company near the discharge port. Tokyo Electric Power Company stated, “There is no problem (with regard to the impact on the environment or people).” ▲ Discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
On the 27th of last month, while Tokyo Electric Power Company disclosed its discharge facilities to foreign media for the first time since discharging contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company officials and reporters are passing by the K4 tank where contaminated water is stored. Although there was no unrest in Japanese society after the discharge of contaminated water by the Fukushima joint reporting team, the Japanese government’s concern is the fishing industry. As soon as the Japanese government discharged contaminated water, the Chinese government immediately implemented a complete import ban on Japanese seafood. As China is Japan’s largest seafood export country, Japan will be hit hard.
According to trade statistics from the Japanese Ministry of Finance, exports of Japanese foodstuffs, including Japanese seafood, to China last month amounted to 14.186 billion yen (about 130 billion won), down 41.2% from the same month last year. This was the largest decline in about 12 years since October 2011 (74.5% decline), the year when the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explosion occurred due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.
In particular, scallops and sea cucumbers, which are highly dependent on exports to China, are known to be hit hardest. The Tokyo Shimbun said, “The Hokkaido Metropolitan Government continues to receive complaints from fishermen that Hokkaido, the largest producing area for scallops, lacks freezers to store them.” NHK said, “The impact of the Chinese import ban on the fishing industry is spreading, making it a challenge to develop new export markets and expand domestic consumption.”
Correspondent Kim Jin-ah, Tokyo
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2023-09-24 06:05:46
