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A warning was issued that the contaminated water contained radioactive carbon that could damage human DNA, while the Japanese government is considering discharging the contaminated water stored at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant into the sea.
According to the United States CNN broadcast on the 24th (local time), the international environmental group Greenpeace has a large amount of radionuclides, including the radioactive isotope ‘carbon-14’ and tritium, in the 1.23 million tonnes of Contaminated water stored at the Fukushima Power Station in 2011. A report that was found was released on the same day.
Greenpeace said this, noting that if polluted water is released into the ocean without any action, it will have serious negative effects on local residents and the environment in the long term. According to the report, the amount of radioactive carbon concentrated in the contaminated water storage tank amounts to 63.6 GBq (giabecquerel).
“Various radioactive materials contained in the contaminated water will remain in the sea for thousands of years, causing genetic damage to humans and marine life,” said Sean Bernie Greenpeace, a senior nuclear expert at the German branch. It should be done.”
Tokyo Electric Power, which is in charge of managing the nuclear power plant, said Greenpeace overestimated the risk of contaminated water. Tokyo Electric Power spokesperson Ryounosuke Takanori said: “(Unlike Greenpeace research), the concentration of carbon-14 in contaminated water is only 2 to 220 Bq per liter. Even if you drink 2 liters of water contaminated for life, the annual radiation exposure is 0.001 It is only 0.11 mSv (millisievert), so it has no effect on health. “
Spokesman Takanori added: “Tokyo Electric Power will take additional steps to purify radioactive materials such as carbon-14 as much as possible.” “We will strictly enforce related regulations to protect people’s health, the environment and fishing activities.”
CNN predicts that the key problem in the discharge of contaminated water from Tokyo Electric Power will be the amount of radioactive material in the contaminated water. Dr Claire Cokehill, who studies radioactive materials at the University of Sheffield, UK, told CNN that “there have been several cases of tritium release into the ocean in the past.” They expressed concern that the amount of radioactive material contained in the contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was not clearly confirmed.
It is noted that before determining ocean release, scientific modeling must be performed to ensure that the amount of radioactive material does not exceed the threshold.
Francis Rivens, professor of radiochemistry at the University of Manchester, said: “The emission of any radioactive material creates some environmental and health risks.” “All the variables, such as whether the food chain of marine organisms is affected, whether there are adverse effects on humans, etc., are radioactive materials. It is determined by the amount of,” he said.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., Ltd. placed thousands of tons of coolant in the reactor to rectify the explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant during the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Subsequently, rainwater and groundwater flow into the cooling water, and the need arose to discharge 160-170 tons of contaminated water per day.
If this trend continues, the reactor’s storage tanks with the capacity to store 1.37 million tons of contaminated water are expected to fill up in the summer of 2022. That is why the Japanese government and TEPCO are in a rush to discharge the water. contaminated, which is expected to take about two years.
However, if the amount of contaminated water, which has recently decreased to about 140 tons, continues at the same level, or if the government succeeds in installing additional storage tanks in the places of the old tanks that are scheduled to be demolished, it is expected that time can be bought until 2025.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government announced on the 27th that it would decide to discharge contaminated water into the ocean, but decided to withhold the decision to treat the contaminated water in consideration of various concerns regarding this.
As a result of receiving 4,011 public opinions related to the treatment of contaminated water from April to July, 67% of Kyodo News expressed anxiety, such as the opinion that the contaminated water filtered by ALPS is harmful to the human body. Represented 2700 cases. 1,400 people raised the issue of ‘procedural legitimacy’, since the conflict with the fishing industry has not yet been resolved.
Reporter Kim Ji-hoon [email protected]
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