International observation: The incalculable harm of Fukushima nuclear contaminated water is caused by Japan's forced discharge plan into the sea, which violates the specific secrecy protection law of international law | Japan | Plan

Since the announcement of Japan's nuclear contaminated water discharge plan in 2021, facing opposition from multiple parties, Japan has persisted and began trial operation of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's nuclear contaminated water and land discharge facilities on June 12 this year. The latest test results from a few days ago showed that the radioactive element cesium in the fish caught in the harbor of the Fukushima nuclear power plant exceeded the legal standard in Japan by 180 times. The harm of massive nuclear contaminated water is immeasurable, and Japan's strong push for a plan to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea seriously violates international law.

Although the cause of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident was due to uncontrollable factors such as earthquakes and tsunamis, the escalation of the accident and large-scale nuclear leakage were mostly caused by human factors. When the accident occurred, TEPCO did not immediately introduce seawater cooling in an attempt to preserve the nuclear reactor, considering property rather than life, and missed the crucial time to prevent core melting. The subsequent pollution treatment process once again proved Japan's serious dereliction of duty. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is located directly above the groundwater veins of the Abukuma Mountains in Japan. Approximately 900 tons of groundwater flow through it every day, with about half of it flowing into the interior of the plant and underground areas, where it comes into contact with highly radioactive materials and becomes contaminated water. In addition, the location has abundant rainfall, frequent typhoons, and the fusion of nuclear contaminated water. In the treatment plan formulated by Japan, it is required to remove pollution sources, control groundwater and rainwater from approaching pollution sources, and prevent the leakage of nuclear contaminated water. But none of these three requirements truly meet the standards. Japan's choice of a sea discharge plan is to transfer the greatest environmental risk to all humanity at the lowest economic cost.

The Fukushima nuclear contaminated water is fundamentally different from the nuclear wastewater generated by normal operating nuclear facilities. The Fukushima nuclear contaminated water originates from cooling water, groundwater, and rainwater that have been in contact with the debris from the melted core. It contains a large amount of radioactive isotopes produced by nuclear fission, many of which do not originally exist in nature. The various issues exposed by Japan's handling of Fukushima nuclear contaminated water are worrying. On the one hand, Japan has engaged in information blockade behavior. At the end of 2013, Japan passed the Specific Secret Protection Act to increase news control and information blockade. On the day of the official implementation of the Specific Secret Protection Act in 2014, the Japan Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission decided not to accept external evaluations at the Fukushima nuclear disaster site in the future. On the other hand, there is a significant gap between Japan's foreign commitments and actual actions. In 2020, the Japanese side conducted secondary treatment experiments on "ALPS treated water" and announced "compliance" at the end of the year. However, Japan's so-called "compliant" experimental sample size was only 2000 tons, accounting for only 0.16% of the total amount of nuclear contaminated water stored at that time. Secondly, Japan's detection range for nuclides does not include some isotopes that are more latent and dangerous, except for tritium. In fact, in addition to containing a large amount of tritium, various nuclides such as strontium 90, yttrium 90, strontium 89, and cesium 137 in Japan's nuclear treatment water exceed the standard. Japan even exaggerates and promotes that the nuclear contaminated water it has processed meets drinking standards. If that's the case, why doesn't Japan discharge these drinkable water into its domestic lakes for utilization, but into the ocean?

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Japan's decisions and actions regarding the discharge of nuclear contaminated water will clearly violate the following treaty obligations: Article 192 states that "States have the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment"; Article 194: "States shall take all necessary measures to ensure that activities under their jurisdiction or control do not cause pollution damage to other countries and their environment, and to ensure that pollution caused by events or activities within their jurisdiction or control does not expand beyond the areas in which they exercise their sovereign rights under this Convention."; Article 195: "The actions taken by States to prevent, reduce, and control pollution of the marine environment shall not directly or indirectly transfer damage or danger from one region to another, or transform one type of pollution into another."; Article 207: "Minimize the discharge of toxic and harmful substances in the marine environment to the greatest extent possible.". In the face of detailed and clear treaty provisions, the Japanese Embassy in China issued the "Q&A on Water Treatment", which only used the phrase "there is no convention or obligation to obtain prior understanding from other countries for such marine emissions" to evade.

The alarm is still ringing, and Japan has made a big mistake in dealing with the Fukushima nuclear accident, causing heavy casualties in Fukushima and its surrounding areas. In the face of the overall interests of all mankind, Japan should seriously abide by its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and cease its irresponsible plan to discharge massive amounts of nuclear contaminated water into the sea. The international community should unite as soon as possible to stop the further promotion of Japan's adventurous behavior in a timely manner.