Japan's forced discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, Fukushima's revitalization is far away-International**At about 1 p.m. on August 24 this year, amid strong domestic and international opposition, Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company officially launched the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant nuclear-contaminated water discharge plan. So far, more than 20,000 tons of nuclear-contaminated water have been discharged into the Pacific Ocean through three rounds of discharge. What is the impact of the plan to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea pushed by TEPCO and Japan's ** on the lives of local residents in Fukushima?Japan** has vowed to revive the Fukushima economy, but what is the effect?
Starting in the summer of 2023, local people in Fukushima, near the mouth of the sea where the nuclear-contaminated water is discharged, have set up "tent villages" to organize sit-ins, rallies and other anti-sea discharge activities. To this day, local ** activities continue.
Masami Yoshizawa, 69, is a resident of Nanami Town, Fukushima Prefecture. Before the 2011 events in East Japan, he ran a ranch in Nanami Town, and natural disasters and nuclear accidents took away his peaceful life, and he and his villagers had pinned their hopes on Tokyo Electric Power Company and Nippon** to properly handle the aftermath. However, more than ten years have passed, and what Fukushima residents are waiting for is Japan's first forced start of the plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. Yoshizawa said he would no longer trust any of TEPCO's and Japan's claims. "Nuclear contaminated water is called treated water, but it is not safe. It is unreasonable to say that something dangerous is diluted (and then it is safe). When Japan's policy for dealing with a nuclear accident was introduced, I decided not to listen to them anymore. ”
After Japan** announced the start of the plan to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, Masami Yoshizawa would go fishing on the beach in Nanjiang Town almost every day, and send the fish he caught to be tested at his own expense, and he wanted to know the real situation of the impact of the nuclear-contaminated water on the ocean. "I sent the fish I caught to the relevant authorities for testing, but they only tested for cesium. In fact, there are more than 60 kinds of radioactive elements in question, and it is not reassuring to detect only cesium. ”
Before the Fukushima nuclear accident, the town of Nanami had a permanent population of 21,500 people, and it was once the most populous town in the vicinity of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Now, as many as 20,000 people have chosen not to return home. Although Fukushima Prefecture said that it had carried out large-scale work to remove radioactive contamination from the radiation area of the nuclear accident, when TEPCO and Japan** forcibly launched the plan to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea despite the opposition of the villagers, the villagers completely lost the confidence to return to their hometowns.
Watching the massive loss of population and the gradual loss of his hometown, Hideki Ishii, a seafood processor in Fukushima Prefecture, is worried. He said that the plan has had a serious impact on the local aquatic product processing industry and the sales and transportation industry, and that the villagers' perseverance here for many years has been exchanged for a gloomy future and another injury. "It took us 10 years to get back to where we are now. The discharge of nuclear-contaminated water brings us back to square one. This concern is very strong. We've been against it all the time, but we're angry that we've turned a deaf ear to our voices. ”
Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, was once a famous surfing spot in Japan. In the aftermath of the nuclear accident, the overcrowding of the tourist season is gone. Local tourism and surfing industry critics have criticized TEPCO and Japan's plan to dump nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, adding to the slump of the industry.
Also outraged were construction crews from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Recently, a gentleman, who did not want to be identified, gave a lecture in Japan's Kanto region about his experience of leukemia due to prolonged exposure to nuclear radiation after he went to work at a nuclear power plant after a nuclear accident. He said that although he had been recognized as a work-related injury by Japan, he could not wait for TEPCO's compensation. "Seven years have passed since the start of the lawsuit, and there has been no result in the first trial, and the oral argument of the lawsuit has been held 23 times. In Japan's nuclear energy-related compensation law, there is a system for Japan** and the relevant power companies to compensate accordingly, but TEPCO said, 'Although you have leukemia and have been recognized as a work-related injury, you cannot compensate for this disease because of your own reasons'.
The victim said that there may be workers like him who suffer from leukemia or other diseases in the line of duty, and he hopes that TEPCO and Japan** will take responsibility and properly solve the various problems left over from the Fukushima nuclear accident.
In fact, there are many cases of illness caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident. In January last year, six Japanese people who had lived in Fukushima filed a class action lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court, claiming compensation from TEPCO for "thyroid cancer due to the effects of radioactive materials caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident." The lawsuit has also sparked widespread public support.
It has been 12 years since the Fukushima nuclear accident, but TEPCO and Japan** have always had problems in dealing with the aftermath, and on this basis, the forced implementation of the plan to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea has made Fukushima residents see no future: it is still difficult for the victims to return to their hometowns, and many local industries are recovering slowly, and the health of residents is already under direct threat.
Although Japan promised that measures will be taken to ensure the development of Fukushima's local economy in the future process of sea discharge, Lin Xunping, an associate professor at Fukushima University, believes that Japan should take concrete actions instead of shouting empty slogans, otherwise the road to Fukushima's revitalization will be far away. "Japan** claims to be fully responsible for the revitalization of Fukushima during the next 30 years or more, but how?We believe that for this commitment, there must be a specific content and a safeguard plan. For example, in the next 10 or 20 years, what level of fishery production will be increased?Another example is that the local young population is small, and it is necessary to have a corresponding plan for how to increase the population in the future. ”
As Fukushima residents fear, American marine biologist Rick Steiner believes that Japan's claims are unconvincing, and that the potential threat of nuclear-contaminated water will have multifaceted long-term consequences for Fukushima residents. "We know that there are a lot of different radionuclides in the [nuclear-contaminated] water that is discharged. The domestic treatment system used by the Japanese side cannot reduce the levels of these radioactive contaminants to undetectable levels. These pollutants are discharged into the ocean along with the nuclear-contaminated water. The marine food chain biomagnifies these substances in levels up to 1,000 times higher than in ambient water, causing cellular damage, genetic damage, affecting the reproductive system, and can lead to cell mutations and even cancer. ”
Although the potential threat posed by the plan to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea has been very clear, the Japanese side still chooses to "put it in one row" despite the opposition of the people of Fukushima and domestic and international **. In this regard, Steiner believes that TEPCO and Japan have taken the most irresponsible approach in order to save money and trouble. "There are safer alternatives, such as building more tanks to keep the treated water for another 10 to 15 years. Every 12 years, the half-life of tritium is halved. At the same time, state-of-the-art technological processing systems can reduce these radionuclides to undetectable levels and remove all tritium. Japan** and TEPCO should at least try both technologies. But the Japanese don't want to do that, because it's more expensive, so it's cheaper for them to dump the contaminated water directly into the Pacific Ocean for the next 20 to 30 years. But in reality, Japan** is shifting costs to the countries surrounding the Pacific. ”