In February 2020, a government panel was put together by Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga. The panel’s job? To figure out how to dispose of the 1.2 million tons of water stored in 1,000 larger tanks, at Fukushima, a damaged and abandoned nuclear plant. Their report suggested the water should be dumped into the Pacific Ocean. This report has proved very unpopular–now Greenpeace is making a statement. (1)
Why Is There So Much Water At Fukushima Daiichi?
On March 11th, 2011, a massive earthquake rocked Japan. As a result, a nearly 50-foot tsunami crashed into the power plant, causing major damage, and prompting the government to evacuate over 100,000 people from their homes nearby, to prevent illness from radiation. Thankfully, the government has reported zero cases of sickness or death due to radiation, because of this quick action.
But that left the nuclear reactors. So, the government started pumping recycled water into the cores to keep them cool. Then, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, who is in charge of the water pumping, stores the now-contaminated water in tanks. By 2022, government officials say, they will have run out of room. (1, 2)
“The Reality Of The Fukushima Radioactive Water Crisis”
That’s the title of the new Greenpeace report, which starts off with a bang.
“The Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) have constructed a series of myths to support their plan,” says the second paragraph of the report. These myths?
That by 2022, there will be no further space for storage of the water; the water is not contaminated – radioactive tritium is the only radionuclide in the water and it is harmless; and there are no alternatives to discharging the water into the ocean. This report, as did our 2019 analysis, demonstrates that these statements are untrue.
If that didn’t seem aggressive enough, Greenpeace isn’t stopping there. “TEPCO and Japanese government bodies appear to have conspired to make the crisis worse,” they say. (3)
How Does It Impact Human DNA?
One of the radioactive materials in the water is carbon-14, which can be absorbed by all manner of things, including the fish people eat. “Once introduced into the environment,” says Greenpeace. “Carbon-14 will be delivered to local, regional and global populations for many generations.” (3)
The Greenpeace Solution
“After a detailed examination of the evidence, Greenpeace has concluded that the only acceptable solution is continued long-term storage and processing of the contaminated water.”
Greenpeace has read another report, this one by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry’s subcommittee on contaminated water. This report apparently says that there is room to store this contaminated water, both at Fukushima and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Japanese government decided against this, according to Greenpeace, because of the effort and time needed to coordinate.
Storing the water longer would allow for the “radiological hazard” of one of the contaminants, tritium, to decrease. “Tritium has a short half-life (12.3 years) and . . . METI’s own data shows that delaying the start of discharges would allow the tritium to diminish naturally,” says Greenpeace. “If discharges began in 2035, they would be completed only three years later (2055) than if they were to begin in 2020.” (3)
