The Japanese government has decided to release the contaminated water used to cool the reactors damaged by the Fukushima nuclear accident into the Pacific Ocean.
This was announced by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, confirming the anticipations of the eve and despite the clear opposition of public opinion, the fishing industry and representatives of local agriculture. Suga met with executive members, including Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama, to formalize the decision, which comes exactly 10 years after the March 2011 catastrophe. Daily maintenance of the Fukushima Daiichi plant generates the equivalent of 140 tons of contaminated water, which - despite being treated in reclamation plants, continues to contain tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Just over 1,000 tanks have accumulated in the area adjacent to the plant, the equivalent of 1.25 million tons of liquid, and according to the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the tanks will reach the maximum capacity allowed. by the summer of 2022. Protests against the spillage of water in the sea have also been expressed in the past by neighboring countries, including China and South Korea. In February of last year, during a visit to the plant, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea), Rafael Grossi, had admitted that the release of water into the Pacific Ocean would be in line with international standards of the nuclear industry. The triple disaster at Fukushima was triggered by the magnitude 9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which caused the nuclear fuel to overheat, followed by the melting of the core inside the reactors, which was accompanied by explosions of hydrogen and emissions of radiation.