The Japanese government’s decision to dispose of nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean is raising significant concerns for the rest of the world.

As we remember, the nuclear power plant in Fukushima was destroyed by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami causing three nuclear reactors to melt down. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which owns the power station, has been cooling the nuclear fuel down using water periodically. However, now with the lack of space to store the water on land, TEPCO and the Japanese government have been pushing a plan to release this radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

Dumping any sort of wastewater, let alone nuclear wastewater, would pose serious risks to our delicate ecosystem and ultimately the world. Pacific Island nations, for example, rely on the ocean for their survival, as it is crucial to their culture and livelihoods. 

In fact, earlier this month, China Global Television Network (CGTN) concluded that fish caught in the nuclear plant’s harbor contained levels of radioactive cesium 180 times that of Japan’s legal standard for food safety.

The Japanese government has been promoting the safety of the wastewater once it is sufficiently treated, and prefers to refer to it as “purified water”, possibly to distance it from any potential harm in the eyes of the public.

The wastewater will still carry traces of contaminants like tritium and radionuclides. If harmful long-lived radionuclides are allowed to spread with the ocean currents, the damage to marine life and human health would be inestimable.

Overall, this discharge would be detrimental to the environment, our health, and the economy, affecting us globally. 

A concrete tunnel under the ocean just a little under a mile away from the storage tanks filled with this wastewater has already been built. There hasn’t been enough research done or time gone by to say there is adequate and accurate scientific data to support and ensure that the disposal meets international safety standards. No matter what the Japanese government says, in the end, this water is not pure as it comes from nuclear reactors. No matter how diluted or how many times tested, this nuclear waste disposal is not a risk we should be willing to take.

Let’s work together to make sure the upcoming disposal is delayed for further studies, and maybe we can even stop it from happening at all! With the help of everyone and other countries, I believe we can find a solution to this without having to hurt the environment or our global health and economy.

To learn more about how TEPCO and Japan are overlooking the global concerns of the public, check out these articles:

• A scientific article on Japanese government’s position and the factors involved.
• A TIME magazine article on how Japan’s plan is affecting Pacific Islands.