(ANSA) - TOKYO, APRIL 13 - The Japanese government has decided to release in the Pacific Ocean the contaminated water used up to now to cool the reactors damaged by the Fukushima nuclear accident.
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 members of the executive, including the Minister of Industry Hiroshi Kajiyama, to formalize the decision, which comes exactly 10 years after the catastrophe of March 2011. The daily maintenance of the Fukushima Daiichi plant is generally equivalent to 140 tons of contaminated water, which - despite being treated in reclamation plants, it still contains tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Fewer than 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 ElectricPower (Tepco), the tanks will reach the maximum permitted capacity by the summer of 2022. Protests against spillage of water into the sea have also been expressed in the past by neighboring countries, including China and South Korea. In February 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 in the Pacific Ocean would be in line with the international standards of the nuclear industry. The triple Fukushima disaster 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 radiation emissions. (HANDLE).
