Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was severely damaged by the earthquake that occurred in 2011 and the tsunami that followed. Fukushima, which leaked radioactive material after the damage to the nuclear power plant, is defined as the second largest nuclear accident in the world after the Chernobyl Disaster. Fukushima has been on the agenda again recently.
Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is on the agenda again with radioactive waste
Japan has announced that it will start releasing the treated and diluted radioactive wastewater of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean from Thursday, August 24. This statement has sparked a lot of controversy.
The decision to release treated water into the ocean is criticized by many on the grounds that it will harm seafood and therefore people. In addition to Japanese environmentalists, people from many countries, especially South Korea and China, are also against this decision. The recent discussions about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant have raised many questions. We tried to answer these questions for you.
Why is there water in a nuclear power plant?
After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, many reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melted, creating a great danger to the environment. The authorities of the power plant started to fill the reactors with water to prevent this disaster.
The nuclear power plant is not currently operating, but the reactors still need cooling. That’s why water continues to be pumped into the reactors. On the other hand, wastewater continues to be stored in tanks. However, according to the authorities, the capacities to store water are now at the limit. Authorities state that 1.325 million liters of water are currently accumulating. Therefore, some of the wastewater needs to be discharged.
Can’t radioactive waste be filtered?
The government is working on a complex filtration system that removes most of the radioactive isotopes from the water. Known as the Advanced Liquid Handling System (or ALPS for short), it can remove many different radioactive contaminants from water.
Authorities use ALPS and other systems to eliminate some of the most dangerous isotopes, such as Cesium-137 and Strontium-90. But there is one radioactive isotope they can’t filter out: Tritium. Tritium appears as an isotope of hydrogen, and hydrogen is one of the two main elements that together with oxygen make up water. So it’s impossible to create a filter that can remove Tritium.
How will Japan release this water safely into the ocean?
Japan has drawn up a detailed plan to ‘safely’ dump this water into the sea. First of all, the authorities will dilute the water with sea water, thus reducing the Tritium concentration. At this point, the Japanese Government underlines that they will reduce Tritium levels well below all safety limits.
Later, authorities plan to take the diluted radioactive water and pass it through a tunnel under the seafloor, and consider moving the water to a point in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Fukushima. Thus, it is aimed to make the radioactive material in the water much more harmless to humans. In addition, stating that this process will be very slow, Japanese officials underline that the draining of the water will be completed in decades.
Is this process really safe?
The Japanese government claims that Tritium is more harmless, especially when compared to other radioactive materials in the region. It is stated that the half-life of this material, which has a relatively weak radioactive decay, is 12 years. In other words, when we compare it with elements such as Uranium-235, which has a half-life of 700 million years, it is possible to say that Tritium will not remain in nature for very long.
While some experts support this system that Japan will implement, there are many scientists who argue that this practice is wrong. Arguing that discharging water into the sea is not the only option, scientists argue that it would be safer to mix wastewater with concrete and keep it on land.
Scientists, who argue that the ALPS system overlooks non-Tritium pollutants, think that these substances may accumulate on Japanese coasts over time. It is also predicted that as a result of the accumulation of waste materials on the coasts in the long term, fisheries and therefore humanity will be affected.
These discussions about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant seem to continue for many more years. Although nuclear power plants are unrivaled in energy production, they must be constructed very carefully due to the dangers they pose.
The Fukushima Power Plant once again showed us the dangers of nuclear energy. What do you think about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant and the discharge of wastewater into the sea? You can share your views with us in the comments section.
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