South Korean protesters call for action on Fukushima

Discharge into the ocean of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima In-Dai nuclear power plant, which was damaged by the tsunami that followed the 2011 earthquake in Japan, began this week.

According to the previously announced plan, Japan will discharge 7,800 tons of sewage into the ocean in 7 days in the first phase. It is planned to discharge a total of 31,200 tons of radioactive wastewater until March 2024.

However, this plan met with reaction from fishermen and environmental activists living in the region, as well as from neighboring countries, especially China. It also corresponded to the measure to dispose of sewage in South Korea.

“We won’t see disasters like the detection of radioactive materials in seafood right away, but it seems inevitable that this poses a risk to the local fishing industry and the government needs to find solutions,” said Choi Kyoungsook of the Korea Radiation Monitoring Group. .

According to the Reuters news; Some 30,000 people attended the protest in South Korea.

JAPAN SAYS THE WATER IS SAFE

Tokyo Electric Power, the organization behind the facility, filters it to remove isotopes, leaving only tritium, the hard-to-separate radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

Japan’s fisheries agency said fish tested in the waters around the facility did not contain detectable levels of tritium, the Kyodo news service reported.

South Korea says it sees no scientific problem with the draining of the water, while environmental activists argue that not all possible effects have been investigated. “No one knows what will happen to the marine ecosystem in the next 100 years,” Kyoungsook said.

Japan says it should start releasing water as its storage tanks are full and contain enough to fill nearly 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The water was distilled after it became contaminated by contact with fuel rods in the reactor destroyed in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.