China announced that Japanese nuclear polluted water was discharged into the sea. Is it necessary to have a human disaster day on August 24th？

China Network, August 24-On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in the sea off the northeast of Japan, causing a huge tsunami, which led to a large amount of radioactive materials leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In April, 2021, the Japanese government officially decided to filter and dilute the Fukushima nuclear polluted water and then discharge it into the sea.Although this move attracted strong opposition from Japan and the international community, the Japanese government went its own way and announced that it would start the sea discharge plan on August 24 this year.

Tokyo Electric Power Company held an interim press conference at around 10: 00 am local time on the 24th, announcing that the discharge of nuclear polluted water into the sea will start at 1: 00 pm local time today (12 noon Beijing time today). Today’s nuclear pollution water discharge is estimated to be 200 to 210 tons, and the daily discharge will be announced the next day. The first sea discharge will discharge about 460 tons per day for 17 days, with a total discharge of about 7,800 tons of nuclear polluted water.

What is the influence scope of nuclear polluted water?

Will spread to the global waters and affect human health and ecological security.

On August 22nd, Tokyo Electric Power Company announced the detailed steps of discharging into the ocean: before discharging, a large amount of seawater will be added to the treated water, and if the concentration is confirmed to be reduced to the expected level, the first batch of 7,800 tons of nuclear polluted water will be discharged within 17 days. In 2023, the estimated emission is about 31,200 tons, and the total amount of tritium is 5 trillion Bekkerel, which is about 20% of TEPCO’s annual planned emission limit (22 trillion Bekkerel).

What will be the impact of Japan’s discharge of nuclear polluted water? In 2021, Zhang Jianmin, an academician of the Institute of Ocean Engineering of Shenzhen International Graduate School in Tsinghua University, and Hu Zhenzhong, an associate professor, established the diffusion model of radioactive substances at the ocean scale from macro and micro perspectives, respectively, and realized the long-term simulation of the Fukushima nuclear sewage discharge plan. The macro-simulation results show that the nuclear sewage will reach the coastal waters of China in 240 days after discharge, and will reach the coast of North America in 1200 days, covering almost the whole North Pacific.

It is believed that further experiments are needed to explore the sensitivity of the ecological environment to radioactive substances, determine the impact of the increase of radioactive substance concentration on the marine ecological environment and human living environment, and finally judge the impact of discharge behavior on the whole ocean and human beings.

A German marine scientific research institute pointed out that the Fukushima coast has the strongest ocean current in the world. Within 57 days from the date of discharge, radioactive materials will spread to most parts of the Pacific Ocean. Three years later, the United States and Canada will be affected by nuclear pollution, and 10 years later, it will spread to the global waters, or lead to human cell death and DNA damage, affecting global fish migration, offshore fishing, human health, ecological security and other aspects.

Gao Zhiguo, president of the Law of the Sea Society of China, told the media that there is a relatively consistent view in international academic circles that there are 64 kinds of nuclear radioactive substances in Fukushima nuclear polluted water. Yang Hua, a professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, pointed out that nuclear polluted water is very harmful, and it is a stealing concept for Japan to confuse nuclear polluted water with nuclear wastewater. Wang You, a professor at the Academy of Marine Life Sciences of China Ocean University, believes that people are not only concerned about local Japanese seafood. If the fishing grounds around the Pacific Ocean are affected, the seafood in these waters will be affected.

Japanese engineering and technical expert Goto Masahiro said that radioactive substances have various destruction paths after entering the human body. For example, cesium will affect the thyroid gland, strontium will invade the bones, and even a small amount will cause great damage to local organs, and the risk of local cancer will increase.

In July this year, Wei Shengkun, a member of the Common Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in South Korea, and the chairman of the countermeasure of "preventing nuclear polluted water from being discharged into the sea", said at the press conference held by South Korean parliamentarians and fishery groups that although Japan’s emission plan lasted for 30 years, the harm it brought would last for 200 years.

Can the treated nuclear sewage meet the safety standards?

Constantly "washing white" and constantly "overturning"

For more than two years, the legitimacy, legality and safety of the Fukushima nuclear pollution water discharge plan have been questioned by the international community. Up to now, the Japanese side has not solved the major concerns of the international community about the long-term reliability of the nuclear polluted water purification device, the authenticity and accuracy of the nuclear polluted water data, and the effectiveness of the monitoring arrangement for discharging the sea.

According to TEPCO, the nuclear polluted water will be repeatedly purified by multi-nuclide treatment equipment (ALPS), and 62 radioactive substances except tritium in the water can be purified to meet Japan’s national environmental emission standards. Tritium is diluted with seawater to reduce its concentration to 1/40 of the Japanese national standard, and finally discharged into the sea.

However, the information obtained when the South Korean government sent a delegation to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in May showed that there were 8 failures in ALPS from 2013 to 2022, and it remains to be seen whether the equipment can operate effectively for a long time. Marcos orellana, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxic substances and human rights, once said that the "advanced liquid treatment system" has technical limitations in the process of treating nuclear polluted water in Japan, so it cannot guarantee success.

The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company insist that the nuclear polluted water treated by ALPS is called "treated water". In 2020, when former Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide visited the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, he asked whether the treated nuclear sewage was drinkable. TEPCO staff responded that "it can be drunk if diluted", but Suga Yoshihide did not drink it in the end.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently stated that it will continue to conduct a fair, independent and objective safety review during the discharge stage of nuclear polluted water in Japan to ensure that all activities continue to meet international safety standards. Previously, the Japanese government had invited the agency to evaluate the nuclear pollution water discharge plan, but the assessment report was questioned as "endorsement" for Japan. "Tokyo News" reported that IAEA itself is an institution to promote the research, development and application of nuclear energy. According to Japan’s "Blue Book of Diplomacy", the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocated a total of 6.3 billion yen to the agency in 2020, and the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Agency and other government departments also sent a number of employees to it.

In July this year, when answering a reporter’s question, the head of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs of China pointed out that the report failed to fully reflect the opinions of all experts who participated in the assessment work, and the relevant conclusions were not unanimously recognized by all experts. There are still many problems in the legitimacy of Japanese sea discharge, the reliability of purification device and the perfection of monitoring scheme.

In addition, after investigation, the former reporter of Asahi Shimbun found that the Japanese government set aside 30 billion yen in the revised budget for 2021 to set up the "countermeasures fund for discharging the sea", of which about 3 billion yen was used for public relations propaganda in an attempt to wash away the nuclear pollution water from the sea. In order to publicize the "safety" of Fukushima nuclear polluted water, the Japanese government also launched a mascot of radioactive substance "tritium" contained in nuclear polluted water, which was resisted and complained by a large number of people, and posters and videos were forced to be removed in just one day.

According to a report released by Tokyo Electric Power Company, the radioactive element cesium was found in the marine fish, Shoji, caught in the harbor of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in May this year, reaching 18,000 Bekkerel per kilogram, 180 times higher than the standard set by Japanese food hygiene law. Mi Shan Nu, an environmentalist in Fukushima Prefecture, believes that radioactive elements have a half-life, and there is no need to rush to the sea now. "We are very disappointed with the decision to discharge the sea, but all we can do is to continue to protest."

Does nuclear polluted water threaten food safety?

China has banned the import of food from ten Japanese counties, and it is not recommended to follow the example of Korean salt storage.

Japan’s insistence on discharging nuclear polluted water has been strongly opposed by the international community. China and other stakeholders have repeatedly pointed out that if the nuclear contaminated water is safe, there is no need to discharge it, and if it is not safe, it should not be discharged. It is unfair, unreasonable and unnecessary for Japan to force nuclear polluted water into the sea.

"We don’t want August 24, 2023 to be a disaster day for the marine environment. If the Japanese side goes its own way, it must bear historical responsibility for this. " Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has repeatedly responded at the press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a few days ago: Japan has openly passed on the risk of nuclear pollution to the whole world, putting its own self-interest above the long-term well-being of all mankind, which is extremely selfish and irresponsible. China is seriously concerned and strongly opposed, and has made solemn representations to Japan.

Sun Weidong, Vice Foreign Minister, summoned the Japanese ambassador to China, Chui Xiufu, on the 22nd, stressing that China strongly urged Japan to cancel the wrong decision, stop pushing the plan of discharging nuclear polluted water into the sea, communicate with neighboring countries in good faith, and dispose of it in a responsible manner to avoid unpredictable damage and harm to the global marine environment. If China persists, the Japanese government will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the marine environment, food safety and public health.

The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (National Nuclear Safety Administration) said that in 2021 and 2022, the monitoring of marine radiation environment in China’s jurisdictional waters was organized successively. The results showed that there was no abnormality in the activity concentration of artificial radionuclides in seawater and marine life in China’s jurisdictional waters, and it was generally within the fluctuation range over the years. At present, the annual monitoring in 2023 is being organized. In the future, we will continue to strengthen relevant monitoring work, and timely track and judge the possible impact of Fukushima nuclear polluted water discharged into the sea on our marine radiation environment.

It is reported that the Hong Kong SAR Government and the Macao SAR Government have banned the import of aquatic products from 10 prefectures in Japan, including Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, since August 24, and strengthened the inspection of Japanese food, and published radiation inspection data every day. In July this year, China Customs has banned the import of food from ten counties (capitals) such as Fukushima, Japan, and strictly examined the attached supporting documents for food from other parts of Japan, especially aquatic products (including edible aquatic animals), and strictly implemented 100% inspection.

According to media reports, due to concerns about food safety caused by nuclear contaminated water, the price of salt in South Korea rose sharply, causing people to hoard salt. Wang Xiaoqing, president of China Salt Industry Association, pointed out that China has a strict and perfect standard system for salt, and its production capacity can meet domestic demand. It is not recommended to follow the example of Korean people hoarding salt. A number of salt and fishery companies, which are based on the production of well and mineral salt and mainly focus on domestic cultured freshwater fish products, have also responded on the interactive platform recently, and their products and operation scope are limited by the discharge of nuclear polluted water.

Comprehensive People’s Network, CCTV News, Zhongxin.com, The Paper, Observer Network, etc.

Editor: Peng Yao

Editor: Wei Jing