Minister of Environment, Japan, Yoshiaki Harada states that by 2022 the only option would be to drain and dilute the contaminated water to the sea. However, nothing is concrete and the government wants to hear the decision of the expert panel on this matter.
Although dumping the contaminated water as it is would cost much less rather than establishing new tanks, a proper solution has to be found soon. Japan’s center for economic research has estimated the cost of clean-up which comes out to be around $660 billion.
In March 2011, Japan faced one of the worst earthquakes in the world’s history. The earthquake set off a tsunami and the waves reached up as high as 133 feet. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is located at the shore and was completely in the vicinity of the tsunami. These series of events led to nuclear meltdowns and triggered three hydrogen explosions at the site.
The Fukushima disaster forced almost 200,000 people away from their homes and a lot of them still haven’t returned after almost a decade. After more than 8 years, Fukushima still has more than a million tons of nuclear radioactive water. Since 2011, the plant has 1000 air-tight tanks, which continue to fill up every day. By mid-2022, Fukushima won’t be able to hold up any more water.
Contaminated water endangers all living things
Various environmental groups are showing their disappointment with this. A group called Greenpeace suggested the only viable option is to keep storing them and dilute the contamination level.The sea is not a garbage dump for such contaminated water
To date, only two disasters have been given a level 7 status of nuclear accidents. The one Chernobyl, back in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011.
Tritium, heavily found in the contaminated water can’t be dumped into the water. It would endanger the life of every living things- plants, animals and fishes, humans, supported by the ocean. Japan, on the other hand, claims that they have tried every known method to treat Tritium but have been unsuccessful so far.
