Nuclear Wastewater Enters the Ocean

written by 10714 Yoon Da Won

On March 11th, 2011, there was a series of earthquakes called the Great East Japan Earthquake. The highest magnitude was a 9.0. It caused a 17m tsunami.

Because of this natural disaster, many people died, and almost all of the buildings were destroyed. In Fukushima, there was a big nuclear power plant. Unfortunately, however, it was face to face with a large tsunami. Finally, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was destroyed, too.

Then, the disaster started.

When the nuclear power plant exploded, a vast amount of radioactive material leaked into Fukushima and the surrounding prefectures. The degree of this radioactive leak is the same as the Chernobyl Disaster.

Many people died. Even though some people survived, they were contaminated by radioactivity which will continue for their whole lives.

Recently, however, Japan has announced that it will dump nuclear wastewater into the ocean. It is because there is no more space to store the wastewater.

After this accident, Japan couldn’t use the Fukushima nuclear power plant anymore, and they had to keep the radioactivity water.

But to store more than a thousand tons of water, it would need more storage capacity to do so. Also, it takes a lot of money to do this. So, Japan decided to release the wastewater into the ocean.

Japan asked the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, for help dealing with the nuclear wastewater.

Japan had to install an ALPS system. The ALPS system is fundamentally a pumping and filtration system.

Nuclear wastewater stored on site is treated to remove a great part of the radioactive content, except tritium, which cannot be removed by the ALPS system or any other current system based on existing technology.

The IAEA researched the effects of wastewater on the environment, marine life and humans. The IAEA has judged that Japan can release it because nuclear wastewater, which is purified, corresponds to international safety standards.

The IAEA announced that it would keep watching Japan as all of the water is released into the ocean. After that, it would continue observing the ocean’s degree of radioactivity.

The IAEA and Japan signed an agreement setting out the full range of the agency’s comprehensive and continual safety checking of the discharge of nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, paving the way for decades of independent monitoring, sampling and analysis at the place and at sea.

This discharge is very relevant to Korea. Korea and Japan are very close geographically. If Japan releases nuclear wastewater, Korea will be affected in the future. So, Korea communicates with Japan in many aspects.

At the 2023 Korea-U.S.-Japan summit, Korea and the U.S. agreed to the release of the wastewater into the ocean.

Korea prepared in many ways for when Japan releases the wastewater. The Korean government will examine whether or not marine life is affected when Japan releases this water in order to ease the minds of the frightened public.

Also, all of the fresh seafood imports from Fukushima and the surrounding eight prefectures are restricted.

Japan has welcomed Korean scientists to check Fukushima’s nuclear wastewater for further investigation.