Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced on April 22, 2023 that the plan to discharge nuclear waste water into the sea at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant may be implemented as soon as July this year. The tunnel excavation project has entered the final stage, and the excavator is currently only 1 kilometer away from the outlet in the sea. They are currently striving to complete it by the end of June, and the discharge operation will start as soon as July.

On April 27, 2021, the Policy and Law Department of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) led an online discussion on the legal response to the discharge of Japan's nuclear wastewater into the sea. The meeting invited experts in the fields of ocean, environment, law, and nuclear safety to interpret and explore the impact of Fukushima's nuclear wastewater which is going to be released on the marine environment and human health, as well as the legal intervention and response plans. (The link: Actively Responding to the Japanese Nuclear Wastewater Discharge Incident, Experts at the Legal Response Seminar had a Heated Discussion)

The Japanese Government, disregarding domestic and foreign doubts and opposition, is willing to dispose of the nuclear contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident by discharging it into the sea, which will inevitably have a huge impact on the marine environment and human health. The discharge of nuclear wastewater into the sea will bring significant risks to seawater quality, marine biodiversity, fishing and aquaculture of aquatic products, thereby endangering the sustainable development of the fishery industry.

If nuclear wastewater is discharged into the sea, it will lead to the enrichment of radioactive nuclides in marine sediments and organisms near the discharge site, and some nuclides will migrate and diffuse with ocean currents to other sea areas. Radionuclides will diffuse in the North Pacific Ocean with ocean currents, and the sea areas under Chinese jurisdiction will inevitably be affected by cross-border contamination of radioactive materials. The human health and global marine ecological security in neighboring countries such as North Korea and South Korea are also facing serious threats.

The Friendship Special Fund of CBCGDF communicated with Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, the former Prime Minister of Japan, on the issue of Japanese nuclear wastewater disposure. Mr. Yukio Hatoyama expressed his opposition to the plan of discharge, and suggested that all feasible political, economic, technological, cultural and diplomatic ways be fully used to prevent Japan’s nuclear waste water from being discharged into the sea, leaving future generations a normal and warm home on earth!

We must not allow humans to go extinct like dinosaurs in a hundred years!

Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/hmmkfX8NEsqbeSxYMmX-LQ?vid

Translator: Richard

Editor: Victoria

Contact: V10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

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