The first phase created a diplomatic crisis between China and Japan. Tepco, the operator of the damaged Japanese Fukushima power plant, announced that the second phase of the discharge of treated water into the sea began on Thursday October 5 at 10:18 a.m. Japanese time (3:18 a.m. in Paris).
On August 24, Japan began evacuating into the Pacific Ocean water used to cool the cores of the three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant (northeast of Japan) which had melted after the 2011 tsunami.
Also coming from groundwater and rain, this water was stored for a long time in huge tanks on the site of the power plant and treated to rid it of its radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, which is only dangerous. ‘in very high concentrated doses according to experts. Tepco therefore dilutes the tritiated water very extensively with seawater before discharging it into the ocean, so that its radioactivity level does not exceed the target ceiling of 1,500 Bq/l.
This limit is 40 times lower than the Japanese standard for this type of discharge into the sea, and it is also almost seven times lower than the ceiling set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for drinking water (10,000 Bq /L).
Japanese seafood products banned in China
The release into the sea was validated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). But the launch of the process has caused tensions between Japan and China, which has suspended all its imports of Japanese seafood products since the end of August.
Russia, whose relations with Japan are also strained due to sanctions taken by Tokyo against Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, is reportedly considering doing the same. In South Korea, opponents of this new rejection demonstrated Thursday in Seoul.
“As was the case with the first release, we will continue to monitor tritium levels. We will continue to inform the public in a clear and understandable manner, based on scientific evidence,” a Tepco official told reporters last week.
A total of approximately 7,800 m3 of tritiated water was released during the first seventeen-day phase. Tepco has planned three other similar operations until the end of March 2024.
In total, Japan plans to release more than 1.3 million m3 of tritiated water from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean – the equivalent of 540 Olympic swimming pools – but in an extremely gradual manner, until the early 2050s. according to the current schedule.
