Japan has announced that it will release more than a million tonnes of water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the ocean in the next few months, a decision which has left local fishing communities and environmentalists concerned.
apan’s government made the announcement in January 2023, more than two years after the government approved the release of Fukushima’s nuclear waste water, media reports said. Although the water will be treated to remove most radioactive materials, it will still contain tritium, a naturally occurring radioactive form of hydrogen that is technically difficult to separate from water, a report by The Guardian said.
Despite the fact that Japanese officials insist that the “treated” water will not pose a threat to human health or the marine environment, fishermen are opposing the decision because they say the release of nuclear waste water can destroy their livelihoods.
The disposal of radioactive wastes from various industrial activities has resulted in the introduction of several chemicals to the marine environment, some of which have been identified as carcinogens for humans.
According to the Young People’s Trust For The Environment, a British charity founded in 1982 to encourage young people’s understanding of the environment, radiation can enter the food chain through plankton and kelp and then contaminated fish. Researchers have already detected radioactive caesium and plutonium in seas and porpoises in the Irish Sea.
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami caused major damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing thousands of tons of radioactive water to be released into the Pacific Ocean.
According to the Yale School of Environment, signs of spreading radioactive material have been found off Japan, including the discovery of elevated concentrations of radioactive caesium and iodine in small fish several dozen kilometres south of Fukushima and high levels of radioactivity in seawater 40 kilometres offshore.