Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
It is a disabled nuclear power plant located in the town of Okuma, Japan.
It was first commissioned in 1971.
The plant suffered major damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.
The chain of events caused radiation leaks and permanently damaged several of its American-designed reactors, making them impossible to restart.
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Why Japan is dumping water to ocean?
The tsunami (2011) flooded the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and damaged its diesel generators.
The loss of power suspended coolant supply to reactors at the facility; the tsunami also disabled backup systems.
Since then, authorities have used more than a million tonnes of water to try and cool the plant’s disabled reactors, which are still hot due to the long-term release of energy from the nuclear power source.
All that radioactive water – which is more contaminated than standard wastewater – has to go somewhere.
In April 2021, the Japanese government approved the dumping of radioactive water of this power plant into the Pacific Ocean over the course of 30 years.
How it will impact ocean?
The water that the Japanese government wants to flush from the plant was used to cool the reactors, rainwater and groundwater.
It contains radioactive isotopes from the damaged reactors and is thus itself radioactive.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima facility, has said that it has treated the water to remove most radioactive isotopes.
But according to some experts there is no known threshold below which radiation can be considered safe.
Any discharge of radioactive materials will increase the risk of cancer and other known health impacts to those who are exposed.
Experts expect the affected water to poison the fish.
TEPCO has not removed tritium from the water because this is very difficult to do so.
Tritium is easily absorbed by the bodies of living creatures and rapidly distributed... via blood.
There were other radionuclides in the water that the TEPCO’s treatment procedure could not entirely remove.
These include isotopes of ruthenium and plutonium, which could persist for longer in the bodies of marine creatures and on the seafloor.
How it affect globally?
South Korea banned seafood imported from around Fukushima, to Japan’s displeasure, from 2013.
Public opposition to nuclear power worldwide, especially in Europe, diminishing its contribution to the clean-energy power generation mix.
In India, the Fukushima accident also revived concerns about some existing nuclear power plants — especially the Department of Atomic Energy’s Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) facility in Tamil Nadu.
Concerns over the impact on the water, marine life, fishers’ livelihoods and other countries in the area.
China, South Korea and Taiwan have expressed concerns over Japan’s plan.
A representative of the Pacific Islands Forum, the bloc of Oceania countries including Australia, has called it “simply inconceivable” based on their experience with “nuclear contamination.
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