Twelve years ago, the Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred as a result of the great earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan at the time. Since then, water from the sea, land and mountains flows through the site and is polluted. “That’s about sixty liters of water a minute,” says Beekhuis, “and they’ve been storing it all this time in nearly a thousand special tanks.”
“That’s about sixty liters of water a minute. They stored it for twelve years in nearly a thousand special tanks.
But those tanks are filling up. There are only about twenty available. Hence the idea of discharging polluted water into the sea. “Much of that water has already been reasonably purified,” says the energy reporter. “Some dangerous particles, such as strontium, have been removed. But tritium is more difficult to separate from water.”
Permission from the International Atomic Energy Agency
Japan has received permission from the IAEA, whose director Rafael Grossi is currently in Fukushima, to dump the water. “Japan will first strongly dilute it by mixing it with seawater, and then let it flow slowly into the sea for a very long time, even decades.” According to the IAEA, this can be done safely and the nuclear values should eventually no longer differ from the values that are naturally present in water.
According to Beekhuis, Japan also has few other options, as it is difficult for them to collect and store water forever. Yet there is opposition, especially from neighboring countries China and South Korea. Beijing does not believe the IAEA investigation was conducted in a neutral manner. He calls for the project to be halted and has announced that he will carry out further checks on Japanese fish imports. South Korea, on the other hand, is concerned about sea salt production.