94 Global News Post 1

Despite widespread opposition, Japan plans to dump water from Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean

By Mong Palatino and Nevin Thompson

The article touches light on the international and Japanese local communities that have been and are going to be affected by nuclear-contaminated water being dumped into the ocean. On December 28th, 2021, the Japanese government has released a plan stating that the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) will start releasing 1 million metric tonnes of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific ocean in 2023. While the government offered compensation for potential “reputational” damages regarding fishing and tourism, the locals are heavily against this decision because of the long-term effects that everyone will eventually have to face.

The article mentioned that there were 3 nuclear reactor meltdowns in 2011 in Fukushima due to Japan’s tsunami and earthquake that year and all the contaminated water has yet to find a new place to linger around. This event caused an insane amount of damage to the ocean and it was said that fishes are just now starting to come back to the shore after 10 years but no matter how much TEPCO plans to dilute the contaminated water, it will still remain poisonous to the fishes and humans.

To no surprise, this plan was heavily criticized on an international level because all the poisonous fish and ocean water will not only mess up the marine ecosystem but will eventually come back to harm the humans of future generations. The world is already struggling with health, safety, and environmental system. We absolutely do not need to add another country’s waste into the massive amounts of ocean problems that we are already facing.

References:

Maurrasse, D. (2012). Destruction after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Colombia Climate School. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://news.climate.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/UNEP-photo-600.jpg.

Palatino, M., & Thompson, N. (2021, December 30). Despite widespread opposition, Japan plans to dump water from Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean. Global Voices. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://globalvoices.org/2021/12/30/despite-widespread-opposition-japan-plans-to-dump-water-from-fukushima-plant-into-the-pacific-ocean/#