Japan struggles with 1.2 million tons of radioactive water and has nowhere to put it

At the site of Japan’s nuclear disaster, 10 years after the collapse that changed the world forever, authorities are grappling with impossible options.

Tomorrow marks a decade since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. The cities surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi plant of the Tokyo Electric Power Company have long been abandoned, but the consequences of the March 11, 2011 event are far away. decide.

Every day, 100 tons of groundwater seeps into one of the basements of the broken reactors at the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

That is a problem, because the water is mixing with radioactive waste and needs to be treated and stored. But TEPCO has more than 1.2 million tons of contaminated water in storage tanks that are rapidly depleting.

Estimates suggest that the tanks will reach the overflow point next year. And one of the options on the table for Japanese authorities is hugely unpopular and potentially devastating: releasing more than 1 million tons of treated radioactive water into the sea.

According to a report in the Japan Times newspaper, fishing industry insiders are convinced that 10-year efforts to recover from the damage caused by radioactive waste leaking into the sea will be completely undone.

Fishing resumed in 2012, hoping to return to the pre-2011 boom, where annual fish sales topped 18.7 billion yen ($ 240 million). But convincing the public to buy local fish is a constant and unwinnable struggle.

“We at Fukushima Fisheries Cooperative are all in agreement in our strong opposition to the release of contaminated water,” said Takashi Niitsuma, managing director of the fisheries association in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture.

It is not the only problem to be solved. A much more dangerous situation is developing in several of the plant’s damaged reactors.

According to local reports, there are still 900 tonnes of melted reactor waste inside three reactors that experienced meltdowns. The plan to extract it was described by the Times as “almost impossible” because “radioactivity remains extremely high near the reactor containment vessels, enough to instantly kill a human and deactivate a robot.”

The plan is to dismantle the plant by 2051.

Images of abandoned properties in the original exclusion zone show weeds growing around houses that were quickly vacated.

The earthquake, tsunami and triple nuclear collapse killed nearly 16,000 people and was one of the most powerful natural disasters in history.

Waves up to 40 m high traveled at 700 km / h and crashed against the coast, where they advanced another 10 km inland, destroying cities and devouring villages.

JAPAN 2011-2021

Kesennuma

Kesennuma

Minamisanriku

Minamisanriku

Onagawa