Initial reassuring analyses: the level of radioactivity in the samples taken is in line with forecasts and below the ceiling of 1,500 becquerels/litre (Bq/l), announced Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the operator of the plant which conducted these tests on Friday, August 25. The dumping into the Pacific Ocean of hundreds of thousands of tons of water from the cooling of damaged nuclear reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit Fukushima, in northeastern Japan, began on Thursday.
“We will continue to conduct scans daily over the next month” and then on a regular basis as planned, Tepco added. With these communication efforts, “we hope to allay various concerns,” the Japanese power company said. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had already noted on Thursday that the tritium concentration in the water samples from the plant that it had taken before the start of the spill in the ocean was “well below the operational limit” of 1,500 Bq/l.
The water spilled comes from rain, groundwater and the injections needed to cool the cores of the three reactors of the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant which had gone into meltdown after the 2011 tsunami. This water was stored on the site of the plant before being treated to rid it of its radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, which was diluted with seawater before discharge into the ocean, so that its level of radioactivity does not exceed the target ceiling.
Japan’s Neighboring Countries’ Fears and Countermeasures
If the attempt to reassure seems commendable, it is not guaranteed that these first results will be enough to satisfy China, which further tightened its trade restrictions against Japan on Thursday, by suspending its imports of all Japanese seafood products.
In South Korea, President Yoon Suk-yeol does not oppose the rejection but 80% of the population is opposed to it, as illustrated by a parade on August 12 to call for “protecting the Pacific Ocean”. These fears have even caused a rush of consumers on sea salt harvested on coasts considered to be threatened if the discharges from Fukushima were to approach the coasts under the effect of sea currents.
For its part, Hong Kong is ready to reinstate restrictions on imports of products from ten departments in the Fukushima region, a measure imposed after the disaster and in force until 2018.
The Japanese Ministry of the Environment is also carrying out its own tests, the first results of which will be published on Sunday. The Japanese Fisheries Agency, for its part, takes fish to check that they are not affected. In total, Japan plans to discharge more than 1.3 million cubic meters of tritiated water from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean until the early 2050s, according to the current schedule.