JAPANESE officials are sketching out a plan to dump 1.4million liters of radioactive water into the ocean.
The water was originally used during the emergency response to the 2011 nuclear meltdown caused by a natural disaster.
2
2
The water cooled the damaged nuclear reactors and was later stored in tanks, the AP reports.
The most dangerous element in the mix is tritium, which can cause cancer in people and represents a threat to marine wildlife.
If the plan is executed, the water will be pumped to a treatment facility to be diluted with seawater and deposited far off the coast.
If approved, the initiative would start in spring 2023, according to Reuters.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has final say on whether the plan will be approved or not after reviewing the public response and hearing from affected parties for one month.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has signed off on the plan to dump the contaminated water at sea while local governments and neighboring countries are not as enthusiastic.
“A Japanese official said it is okay if we drink this water, so then please drink it,” a spokesperson from the Chinese government said, resisting the idea.
International committees are monitoring the situation – a representative from the United Nations inspected the decommissioned Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday, acting as eyes and ears for the rest of the world.
Most read in Tech
It’s been more than 11 years since an earthquake triggered a tsunami, which ravaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Right after the disaster struck, Japanese seniors volunteered for “suicide corps” to enter the radioactive wasteland and contain the damage.
Since then, radioactive water has held on site, sitting in over 1,000 enormous tanks.
The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, claims that the storage tanks are at capacity and the water needs to be mobilized.
The Fukushima disaster does not hold a candle to the infamous Chernobyl reactor meltdown in 1986.
According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Chernobyl disaster was worse by nearly every metric and caused by human error rather than a natural disaster.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
