According to the Japan Broadcasting Association TV station NHK, Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company has officially started operations on Fukushima nuclear contaminated water at around 1:00 pm local time on the 24th. Previously, Tokyo Electric Power Company also announced its emission plan. The first phase of the discharge into the sea will last for 17 days, with a total discharge of about 7,800 cubic meters of nuclear-contaminated water. In 2023, it is expected to discharge about 31,200 tons.
According to news released by Japan's TEPCO, today's nuclear contaminated water discharge is expected to be 200 to 210 tons, and the daily discharge will be announced the next day.
"Nuclear contaminated water" and "nuclear wastewater" are not the same thing
According to China Daily, nuclear wastewater and nuclear contaminated water are essentially different.
Nuclear wastewater refers to the wastewater produced by nuclear power plants during normal daily activities, such as water used to cool key parts of nuclear power plants. This water will not come into contact with radioactive materials in the nuclear reactor and can be discharged through pipes after strict treatment.
Nuclear contaminated water refers to water that was directly exposed to radioactive materials in the reactor during the accident and is highly radioactive due to contamination. This kind of water must be strictly stored and must be treated through multiple processes and evaluated by experts before it is allowed to be discharged into the ocean. Otherwise, the ecological risks it brings will be immeasurable.
Today (August 24), the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (National Nuclear Safety Administration) responded to reporters’ questions about Japan’s launch of the discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, saying: The Japanese government has forcibly launched the discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water. Hai? The wording used is "nuclear contaminated water."
What will be the impact of discharging nuclear contaminated water into the sea?
In the plan of the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea, the multi-nuclide treatment system (ALPS) is the key. Japan insists that the nuclear-contaminated water treated by ALPS is "treated water" and believes that the "treated water" has reached the standard and can be discharged. But this is not the case.
First, there is no effective treatment technology for many radionuclides in nuclear-contaminated water.
The Fukushima nuclear contaminated water contains more than 60 radionuclides, such as tritium, carbon-14, iodine-129, etc. Many of these radionuclides do not have effective treatment technology, but Japan has been making "The problem is only with tritium" is misleading.
An investigation by an international environmental protection organization found that ALPS cannot remove radioactive tritium and carbon-14, nor can it completely remove other radioactive isotopes, such as strontium-90, iodine-129 and cobalt-60.
Second, radionuclides in nuclear-contaminated water affect human health.
Japan maintains that after dilution with seawater, the tritium concentration in the water will reach less than one-fortieth of Japan's regulatory standards. However, dilution does not reduce the total dose of radioactivity in discharged nuclear-contaminated water.
Gao Zhiguo, president of the China Law of the Sea Society and former judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, said that after these radionuclides enter the marine environment and ecology, tritium may not be the most dangerous, affecting humans and marine life. The most harmful ones are carbon-14 and iodine-129. Carbon-14 has a half-life of more than 5,000 years, and iodine-129 has a longer half-life. Carbon-14 accumulates in the bodies of marine organisms, that is, fish, and the abundance or concentration of carbon-14 may be 50 times that of tritium.
Third, the scope of the impact of nuclear contaminated water affects the whole world.
The German Marine Science Research Institute pointed out that the coast of Fukushima has the strongest ocean currents in the world. Within 57 days from the date of discharge, radioactive materials will spread to most of the Pacific Ocean. Three years later, the United States on the other side of the Pacific Ocean and Canada will be affected by nuclear contamination, which will spread to global waters in 10 years.
Source: CETV New Media Comprehensive CCTV News Client, People’s Daily Client, Media Tea Party WeChat Official Account