Ocean Pollution
Stop Dumping Radioactive Wastewater from
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the World's Oceans
On August 24, 2023, the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) began dumping part of more than 1.3 million tons of contaminated water from the now-defunct Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. They plan to continue it for more than 30 years. Though the contaminated water will be filtered through an Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), diluting it with more than 100x the quantity of sea water before being discharged through a kilometer-long underwater tunnel, the contaminated water still amounts to more than 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Many environmental justice organizations and advocates who have been researching this case demand transparency from TEPCO and the Japanese government and demand to stop the planned dumping of more than 1.3 million tons of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. They have held meetings, rallies, and conferences worldwide to address the gravity of the situation. Many concerned citizens worldwide have held protests against the dumping. Here are some basic facts on the issue of dumping Fukushima’s radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
FAST FACTS
FACT #1: Based on Pacific Ocean currents, the U.S. West Coast will be among the first coastal environments impacted.
FACT #2: According to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and the Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML), radioactive materials have trans-generational effects on ecosystems and human life.
FACT #3 Compared to before the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, the sea floor off Japan’s east coast still contains up to 10,000x the cesium concentration it did previously. The Ohio Department of Health reports that the most common radioactive form of cesium is cesium-137 (Cs-137) and that the main health concerns of cesium exposure is the increased likelihood of cancer. According Ohio Department of Health: “High levels of Cs-137 in or near your body can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, coma, or death.”
FACT #4 Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and is extremely difficult to remove from water. Since tritium emits beta radiation which does not penetrate skin, it is relatively safe as long as it stays outside of a human body. But once ingested into the human body through food, organically bound tritium (OBT) can replace water in soft tissues and cause damage to cells and DNA. When discussing the potential harm that TEPCO/Japan’s plan could cause, the effect of OBT should be seriously considered.
FACT #5 Bioaccumulation is a process where pollutants become more concentrated as they go up the food chain. In cod, which is relatively high in the food chain, the concentration of tritium can be 2,000-6,000x higher than what is found in the water.
FACT #6 ALPS cannot remove all radioactive materials before releasing the contaminated water into the Pacific. More than 70% of the contaminated water primarily treated with ALPS exceeds the regulatory standards for discharge, and radioactive substances such as tritium (H-3), carbon-14, strontium-90, cesium-137, and plutonium remain.
FACT #7 Since April 2011, the fallout from the Fukushima disaster has impacted California’s ecosystem. Directly after the catastrophe, waste from Fukushima was detected in the San Francisco Bay water. In 2018, traces of radioactive particles were found in wines from Napa, a wine-growing region 80 km away from San Francisco.
FACT #8 A 2012 study found bluefin tuna migrating from Japan to California across the Pacific Ocean, carrying Fukushima radiation with them. Fukushima radiation has been detected along the West Coast of the United States and Canada since 2015, according to periodical monitoring conducted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
FACT #9 TEPCO’s sampling and testing practices have been called “inadequate” by a panel of global experts assembled by the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Out of 64 radionuclides in the water, TEPCO routinely samples only seven. Sampling is always done from the surface of each tank and never from the bottom where sludges accumulate. PIF contends that the data on the composition of the sludges and method of ALPS performance is inadequate.
FACT #10 Supporters of the plan claim that discharging wastewater from nuclear power plants is done all over the world and is a routine practice. The wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi is not the same as wastewater from ordinary, operating nuclear power plants. Because of the 2011 disaster, which caused three reactor cores to meltdown, groundwater continuously seeps through the damaged facilities and comes into direct contact with melted fuels. Some call the wastewater from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant “liquid nuclear waste.”
FACT #11 In 2015, the Japanese government promised the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, known as JF Zengyoren (全漁連) that the government would not dump the radioactive wastewater into the Pacific without the consent of fishing groups and those concerned. They oppose the dump, and the Japanese government needs to keep its promise.
FACT #12: The disposal violates international norms, such as International Human Rights Law and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
ALTERNATIVES
Disposing of nuclear wastewater into the Pacific neglects the fundamental environmental rights of future generations, who are rarely invited to the table to help make decisions that will ultimately have the most severe consequences for them. ESJF suggests the following:
Submitted by Sung Sohn
Notes: Facts 4-6 and 8-10 are adopted by the fact sheet compiled by Tsukuru Fors, co-founder of Pacific Asian Nuclear-Free Peace Alliance. For more information on this issue, visit Manhattan Project for A Nuclear-Free World at http://mp-nuclear-free.com/Fukushima/20230311.html.
YouTube 후쿠시마 핵오염수 저지를 위한 동행: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiRA_Hcv5Sw
Many environmental justice organizations and advocates who have been researching this case demand transparency from TEPCO and the Japanese government and demand to stop the planned dumping of more than 1.3 million tons of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. They have held meetings, rallies, and conferences worldwide to address the gravity of the situation. Many concerned citizens worldwide have held protests against the dumping. Here are some basic facts on the issue of dumping Fukushima’s radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
FAST FACTS
FACT #1: Based on Pacific Ocean currents, the U.S. West Coast will be among the first coastal environments impacted.
FACT #2: According to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and the Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML), radioactive materials have trans-generational effects on ecosystems and human life.
FACT #3 Compared to before the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, the sea floor off Japan’s east coast still contains up to 10,000x the cesium concentration it did previously. The Ohio Department of Health reports that the most common radioactive form of cesium is cesium-137 (Cs-137) and that the main health concerns of cesium exposure is the increased likelihood of cancer. According Ohio Department of Health: “High levels of Cs-137 in or near your body can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, coma, or death.”
FACT #4 Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and is extremely difficult to remove from water. Since tritium emits beta radiation which does not penetrate skin, it is relatively safe as long as it stays outside of a human body. But once ingested into the human body through food, organically bound tritium (OBT) can replace water in soft tissues and cause damage to cells and DNA. When discussing the potential harm that TEPCO/Japan’s plan could cause, the effect of OBT should be seriously considered.
FACT #5 Bioaccumulation is a process where pollutants become more concentrated as they go up the food chain. In cod, which is relatively high in the food chain, the concentration of tritium can be 2,000-6,000x higher than what is found in the water.
FACT #6 ALPS cannot remove all radioactive materials before releasing the contaminated water into the Pacific. More than 70% of the contaminated water primarily treated with ALPS exceeds the regulatory standards for discharge, and radioactive substances such as tritium (H-3), carbon-14, strontium-90, cesium-137, and plutonium remain.
FACT #7 Since April 2011, the fallout from the Fukushima disaster has impacted California’s ecosystem. Directly after the catastrophe, waste from Fukushima was detected in the San Francisco Bay water. In 2018, traces of radioactive particles were found in wines from Napa, a wine-growing region 80 km away from San Francisco.
FACT #8 A 2012 study found bluefin tuna migrating from Japan to California across the Pacific Ocean, carrying Fukushima radiation with them. Fukushima radiation has been detected along the West Coast of the United States and Canada since 2015, according to periodical monitoring conducted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
FACT #9 TEPCO’s sampling and testing practices have been called “inadequate” by a panel of global experts assembled by the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Out of 64 radionuclides in the water, TEPCO routinely samples only seven. Sampling is always done from the surface of each tank and never from the bottom where sludges accumulate. PIF contends that the data on the composition of the sludges and method of ALPS performance is inadequate.
FACT #10 Supporters of the plan claim that discharging wastewater from nuclear power plants is done all over the world and is a routine practice. The wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi is not the same as wastewater from ordinary, operating nuclear power plants. Because of the 2011 disaster, which caused three reactor cores to meltdown, groundwater continuously seeps through the damaged facilities and comes into direct contact with melted fuels. Some call the wastewater from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant “liquid nuclear waste.”
FACT #11 In 2015, the Japanese government promised the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, known as JF Zengyoren (全漁連) that the government would not dump the radioactive wastewater into the Pacific without the consent of fishing groups and those concerned. They oppose the dump, and the Japanese government needs to keep its promise.
FACT #12: The disposal violates international norms, such as International Human Rights Law and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- The 1993 Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention prohibited the dumping of all types of radioactive waste including low- and mid-level materials.
- The dumping of radioactive contaminated water is a violation of the duty to conserve the marine ecosystem defined under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
- Multiple UN Special Rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights Council have severely criticized the plan, sharing concerns about the potential threats to human health and the environment resulting from the discharge of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
ALTERNATIVES
Disposing of nuclear wastewater into the Pacific neglects the fundamental environmental rights of future generations, who are rarely invited to the table to help make decisions that will ultimately have the most severe consequences for them. ESJF suggests the following:
- Take an alternative solution. Fukushima nuclear wastewater can be stored in Chernobyl-style sarcophaguses, petroleum storage tanks, or hardened concrete until its radioactivity has weakened.
- Stop dumping until enough scientific data proves that the Fukushima’s radioactive wastewater is safe to be released into the ocean.
Submitted by Sung Sohn
Notes: Facts 4-6 and 8-10 are adopted by the fact sheet compiled by Tsukuru Fors, co-founder of Pacific Asian Nuclear-Free Peace Alliance. For more information on this issue, visit Manhattan Project for A Nuclear-Free World at http://mp-nuclear-free.com/Fukushima/20230311.html.
YouTube 후쿠시마 핵오염수 저지를 위한 동행: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiRA_Hcv5Sw