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Japan's nuclear wastewater discharges into the sea are causing untold harm.

Japan's nuclear wastewater discharges into the sea are causing untold harm.

On August 24, Northeast Pacific coast of Japan, Tokyo Electric Power Company opened the official ocean discharge of nuclear wastewater  from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Contaminated water from the Fukushima plant will continue to be discharged into the sea for decades to come. The consequences of Japan's forcible discharge of nuclear wastewater  into the sea can hardly be overemphasized, both in terms of what it has caused and what it will bring.

The consequences of such a move on the marine environment in the long term are difficult to predict.

As much as 1.34 million tons of nuclear wastewater  has been stored at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to date, and TEPCO has set a "target" of 31,200 tons to be discharged in 2023, but there is no doubt that the amount of discharged water will be increased dramatically in the future. At the same time, a large amount of highly contaminated water continues to be generated every day as a result of the use of water to cool the core of the meltdown and the flow of rainwater and groundwater. Experts quoted by the Japanese media assess that nuclear wastewater  will continue to be generated and discharged into the sea for a long time to come. Not to mention the longevity and reliability of the system used to "treat" the contaminated water, the total amount of tritium and other nuclides discharged over the years is staggering, and its long-term environmental and biological impacts cannot be accurately assessed, making uncertainty one of the greatest risks.

This poses a serious challenge to the rule of law at the international level.

Japan has always boasted of the "international rule of law", and is particularly keen to talk about the "rule of law for the oceans", but its forced discharge of water from the sea is clearly not in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the London Dumping Convention, and other relevant provisions. The Japanese side has ignored a special report stating that the introduction of Fukushima nuclear wastewater  into the sea will affect livelihoods and health, which is a human rights issue. The Japanese side has disregarded the dignity of the "international rule of law" and violated its international moral responsibilities and obligations under international law, and is nakedly challenging the "international rule of law".

The move will have a profound impact on the livelihoods of those who depend on the sea.

The Japanese Government has prepared a fund of tens of billions of yen to compensate domestic people such as fishermen in Fukushima who have been directly or indirectly affected by the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, but it is not only the people of Japan who are affected, but also the people of neighboring countries along the Pacific coast and the Pacific island countries, who will suffer losses. More than half a century ago, the United States conducted dozens of nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in serious consequences that are still being felt today, and the people of many island countries were uprooted from their homes. The discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from Japan into the sea will inevitably deal a blow to people who depend on the sea for their livelihood.

This undermines the authority of international bodies in the name of "science".

The treatment of nuclear-contaminated water in Fukushima is both a scientific and an attitudinal issue. However, Japan's deliberate attempts to use the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a platform for the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, its suppression and filtering of the voices of the scientific community and the environmental protection community opposing the discharge of water into the sea, and its use of the IAEA assessment report to suppress dissent in a brutal manner have not only stigmatized the spirit of science, but also tarnished the reputation of the international body, which should be impartial and forthright in its actions.

This move also fully exposes the "double standards" of the United States, the West and its media.

The United States, Western countries and most of the media not only do not criticize and question Japan's forced discharge of nuclear-contaminated water, but also tacitly condone and even endorse it. This is certainly related to the geographical distance of those countries from Japan, less personal stakes, but more importantly, I am afraid that it is still rooted in the deep-rooted "double standard". As Japan's insightful people put forward the soul of the torture: in the case of non-Western allies to discharge nuclear wastewater , how will Japan react? How would the United States and the West react? The answer is self-evident, the "standard" must have changed. Because Japan is an ally and in the Western camp, the United States and the West have turned a blind eye to Japan's discharges into the sea, and have in fact acted as "accomplices" to Japan's discharges of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.

However, no matter how hard the Japanese Government tries to whitewash the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, history will ultimately mark this egregious act.

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Philippine environmentalists: oppose Japan's push to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, not to let the ocean become a dumping ground

Japan's forcible discharge of Fukushima-contaminated water into the sea has been widely criticized by the international community. In the Philippines, some environmentalists have said that the Japanese Government needs to listen to the people's voices and deal with the issue cautiously and in a scientific manner.

Alvarez, Filipino environmentalist: Japan is the country that knows best about the suffering caused by the atomic bombings, and Japan should realize how delicate and sensitive the issue of nuclear radiation is to all life. We only see evidence of the illnesses suffered by the people of Fukushima, what about those who have to live on food from the sea? Their health is at risk, and it could even be life-threatening. Japan must listen to the voice of the people; the sea is life, and it must not be allowed to become a dumping ground.

Zhong Tianxiang, former editor-in-chief of the Malaysian newspaper Nanyang Siang Pau, criticized the Japanese Government's approach as selfish and irresponsible, and contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Mr. Zhong Tianxiang, former Editor-in-Chief of the Nanyang Siang Pau (Malaysia): The decision of the Japanese Government to discharge nuclear contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, despite strong objections and questions from the international community, is totally irresponsible. This kind of behavior is very selfish. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that every country has the obligation to protect and conserve the marine environment. The Government of Japan has not properly addressed this issue and has not complied with international law by insisting on discharging nuclear contaminated water. Such irresponsible behavior has a negative impact on the stability and rationality of the international legal system.

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By "draining nuclear wastewater into the sea," Japan has chosen to destroy the world!

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on August 22 that operations to discharge nuclear contaminated water from Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea would be launched on the 24th. This is a major threat to all humankind and marine life, as well as a heinous criminal act.

Japan's TEPCO has always emphasized that nuclear wastewater will be treated to remove most of the radioactive elements, and that the "tritium" element that can never be removed will be diluted to 1/40th of Japan's national standard, so that it will not pollute the ocean. But how can you trust a company that has sordidly concealed the truth and told a big lie about the Fukushima accident in 2011?

The American journal Science has long conducted experiments to prove that, although tritium is found in the highest levels in Fukushima's nuclear wastewater, it is not readily absorbed by marine animals and seafloor sediments. Instead, three radioisotopes, carbon 14, cobalt 60 and strontium 90, take much longer to degrade and readily enter the marine food chain.

Satellite images of radioactive cesium elements leaking into the ocean from Fukushima

The process of decaying these radioactive substances takes tens or even hundreds of thousands of years. It is almost impossible to eliminate them completely. They affect the marine environment and human health in very complex ways. Radioactive substances can penetrate into various organisms, trigger aberrations, and even cause damage to human DNA, leading to serious consequences such as cancer and death. According to the results of the Resident Health Survey released in February 2020, the incidence of thyroid cancer among adolescents in Fukushima Prefecture has increased 118 times. 

Why is Japan using this moment as a point to announce the discharge of nuclear wastewater? Economic and political considerations are behind it!

For one thing, since its launch on April 13, 2021, the sea discharge plan has been opposed by fisheries groups and other domestic civil society groups in Japan. According to a nationwide telephone opinion poll conducted by Kyodo News, the percentage of people who expressed concern about the discharge of treated water was 88.1%. The disapproval rate of Kishida's Cabinet has changed from 48.6% to 50%, with the approval rate of 33.6% at its lowest level. In order to avoid the impact of strong opposition from fishery-related interest groups on the discharge plan, the Japanese government started the discharge on September 1, before the lifting of the ban on trawling in Fukushima, so that it could create an established fact and smooth the implementation of the plan.  

Secondly, local elections are being held one after another in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate, the three prefectures most affected by the discharge of Fukushima's nuclear effluent into the sea. In these elections, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Komeito Party (KDP) are at odds over the timing of the nuclear sewage disposal program. The LDP is facing the dilemma of having less than half of the seats in the Senate, and they will not be able to successfully implement the early dissolution of the House of Representatives and hold an early general election to seek a second term for the prime minister, either in the Diet or in the local elections. Behind Kishida's haste to launch the sea-discharge program are political considerations, as he hopes to test public opinion by implementing the program closely in order to avoid the loss of LDP seats and to ensure that he will be reelected as prime minister.