Jew World Order

The run-up to the discharging of chemically treated, but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is once again taking center stage in the eyes of many of Japan’s neighbors.

The Japanese authorities opted to release Fukushima water last April to advance the decommissioning process that has lasted for more than a decade. As the reader may recall, in 2011, a massive magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a huge tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people along Japan’s north-east coast. Tsunami waves crashed into Fukushima nuclear power plant, knocking out its backup electricity supply, which caused meltdowns in three of its reactors and sending large quantities of radiation into the atmosphere. More than 150,000 people were forced to flee their homes. At the same time, evacuation orders in communities closest to the plant were only recently partially lifted.

Almost immediately after the disaster at the nuclear power plant, radioactive water became a serious headache for the government and the company operating the power plant, Tokyo Electric Power. The government plan envisages that millions of tons of chemically treated, but still radioactive water will be dumped into the sea in the course of 30 years in several stages, starting in 2023.

This accident at Fukishima Daiichi has been the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, although the environmental fallout turned out to be less damaging than experts feared. Immediately after the disaster Japan’s government banned the sale of 44 fish species, but by 2020 it lifted all these restrictions. Excess radiation in the agricultural products is also becoming increasingly rare. For that reason, in early February, Taiwan announced that it would lift the ban on food and agricultural imports from Northern Japan since it is now deemed safe.

Nonetheless, the issue of getting rid of radioactive water still looms large on the agenda of the government and Tokyo Electric Power. As of last year, 150 tons of radioactive water flowed to the NPP every day, with rain and ground water mixing up with the water used to cool the reactors.

For now, this radioactive water is being treated, but to remove tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, and some other elements from it is just not possible. All radioactive water is stored in 1,061 tanks, and according to Tokyo Electric Power, those will be filled to the brim by spring 2023. Japan’s authorities fear that adding up to the battery of tanks may pose new difficulties, so the issue of discharging water has taken on particular urgency.

However, to ensure that tritium level is low enough when diluted with seawater, storage sites are being constructed which will be used as temporary tanks before the discharge itself. Besides, the Japanese authorities’ project sets out for building of an underwater tunnel through which water will be dumped into the sea at a 1 km distance from the plant. The tunnel construction was expected to get under way earlier this year. The works, however, were put off until June as many officials doubt that the tunnel will be ready in time due to recent delays induced by the coronavirus pandemic as well as the lack of consent for such efforts both in Japan and abroad.

Some environmental experts and nuclear physicists believe that discharging water is the lesser evil as the Pacific ocean will help make radiation harmless to humans. At the same time, local fisherman abandoned by their customers in the wake of the disaster, lambasted the move as “absolutely unacceptable.”

The South Korean government whose waters border the Japanese ones, has fiercely opposed the plan. On February 4, Russian and Chinese leaderships issued a joint statement where they voiced concerns over Japan’s plan to release into the ocean contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant saying that the water should be disposed of in a responsible and adequate manner based on Japan’s agreements with neighboring countries and international organizations.

Tokyo Electric Power argues that its purification technology allows for removing almost all radioactive elements from the water except for tritium which is harmless in small quantities. It said the gradual release of the water, diluted with seawater, would not pose a threat to human health or the marine environment. In 2020, however, Greenpeace said the water still contained contaminants beside tritium and would have to be treated again.

In these conditions, the Japanese government asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit Fukushima and to examine the safety of the treated radioactive water with the idea that a seal of approval from a credible international body could be used as a powerful argument in debates with critics at home and abroad. At first, a team of researchers from 11 countries, including China, South Korea, and Russia, which are the fiercest opponents of the water release, was expected to visit Japan in December but the trip was cancelled due to a new coronavirus wave.

The Japanese government has also struggled to gain support from fishermen and the public regarding the plan of releasing chemically treated water from the NPP. Fishermen are particularly adamant in the opposition against dumping radioactive water in the area.

Their fears are justified by the events of the last month, when the Japaneses government suspended sales of black rockfish that had been caught not far off from Fukushima. This comes after experts found that the fish was 14 times more radioactive than the legally permitted level: according to Japan’s ministry of health, the fish contained 1,400 becquerels of radiation per kilogram, compared with a safe level of 100 becquerels per kilogram. This news, as The Times reports, added to anxiety of the local population which opposes the authorities’ plans to release contaminated water into the ocean from the crippled power plant.

On February 14, a group of IAEA experts arrived to Japan to review the “controversial” planned release of more than 1.25 million tons of contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi into the ocean. The IAEA group promised to report its findings in late April.

However, as The Guardian reports, Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist for Greenpeace East Asia, said he did not believe the IAEA would fully investigate and address safety and environmental concerns in its report. He noted that “the IAEA is not an independent agency in nuclear affairs – under statute its mission is to promote nuclear power. It has sought to justify radioactive marine pollution as having no impact and safe. But the IAEA is incapable of protecting the environment, human health or human rights from radiation risks – that’s not its job.”

Vladimir Danilov, political observer, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

Source