Global monitoring for Japan’s toxic water release

The Japanese government recently announced that International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi has been invited to visit Japan from Tuesday to Thursday. The invitation raises many questions because the Japanese government has been discharging the nuclear-contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean by claiming it had got the “green light” to do so from the IAEA.

Despite the opposition from neighboring countries and the international community as a whole, Japan has proceeded with its discharge plan, and has already released 23,000 tons of contaminated water into the ocean. Japan’s plan for fiscal year 2024 includes releasing another seven rounds of the radioactive water, totaling about 54,600 tons.

This decision has ignited a debate on the complex composition of the contaminated water, the limitations of the purification process, and the potential risks it poses to the marine environment and human health.

The nuclear-contaminated water contains more than 200 types of radioactive nuclides, all of which cannot be removed, as Japan’s advanced liquid processing system (ALPS) is designed to remove only 62 types of these nuclides. Worse, the ALPS has not been effective in removing even those 62 types of nuclides from the radioactive water.

About 70 percent of the water treated by the ALPS still does not meet the discharge standards, as it retains radioactive nuclides such as carbon-14, iodine-129, cesium-137 and strontium-90. This raises concerns about the safety of discharging the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, especially given its potential impact on marine ecosystems and human health.

By discharging the contaminated water into the ocean, Japan has not only violated international radiation protection norms and the 1972 London Dumping Convention but also failed to fulfill its global obligations to protect and preserve the marine environment. The potential impact of this decision extends beyond Japan’s borders, violating the principles of international cooperation and environmental protection, and affecting the global community.

Moreover, the discharge of the radioactive water presents economic and scientific challenges. While it is commonly believed to be the least expensive disposal method, Japan’s decision overlooks the need for huge amounts of resources by front-end operations to, for example, curb the use of underground water and facilitate the treatment of the contaminated water by the ALPS.

Additionally, the associated costs of addressing secondary crises and compensating the affected stakeholders have far exceeded initial estimates, highlighting the financial burden of this approach. For instance, Japan initially estimated the cost of discharging the radioactive water to be 3.4 billion yen ($23m). However, as of now, the related expenses have exceeded 129 billion yen, with further escalations expected in the future. The decision to discharge the contaminated water into the ocean is not scientific. But the Japanese government claims that discharging the contaminated water into the ocean is necessary to clear space for the decommissioning work at the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

However, by claiming the release of the contaminated water into the ocean is a “preparatory step” for decommissioning, Japan has not only revealed its simplistic linear mindset but also prompted the international community to question its real intentions, especially given the unknown timeline and feasibility of the decommissioning process.