Japan is set to initiate the release of a second batch of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant starting next week, according to its operator. This action had sparked outrage from China and other nations when it commenced in August.
On August 24, Japan commenced the discharge of some of the 1.34 million tonnes of wastewater that had accumulated since a tsunami severely damaged the facility in 2011. On Thursday, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) announced that they had completed the inspections following the first release… The (second) discharge will start on October 5.”
China responded to the initial release of wastewater by Japan from Fukushima , which concluded on September 11, by banning all Japanese seafood imports, despite Tokyo’s insistence that the operation posed no risk. Russia, which has strained relations with Japan, is reportedly contemplating a similar ban on seafood imports.
In the initial phase, they released approximately 7,800 tonnes of water into the Pacific out of a planned total of 1.34 million tonnes, equivalent to more than 500 Olympic swimming pools.Tepco asserts that they have rigorously filtered the water to eliminate all radioactive elements except tritium, which the UN atomic agency confirms to be within safe levels.
“Sewer”
China has accused Japan of using the ocean as a “sewer,” a sentiment Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of the Solomon Islands, who has developed close relations with Beijing, echoed at the UN.
The continuous release, expected to take decades, aims to make room for the eventual commencement of the removal of highly hazardous radioactive fuel and debris from the damaged reactors.
Tepco official Akira Ono informed reporters on Thursday, “As was the case for the first discharge, we will continue to monitor the tritium levels. We will continue to inform the public in ways that are easy to understand based on scientific evidence.”
Despite China’s embargo on Japanese seafood imports, Chinese fishing boats are reportedly still operating in the same areas off Japan where Japanese vessels fish.
Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador to Japan, recently shared photos on September 15 of what he claimed were Chinese fishing boats off the coast of Japan. He commented on the situation, saying, “They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Chinese vessels fishing off Japan’s coast on 15 September, post China’s seafood embargo from the same waters,” via the social media platform X.