The whole story of Japan’s nuclear wastewater incident

1. Incident

Beginning at the end of June 2023, the Japanese government began to gradually discharge approximately 1.3 million tons of nuclear wastewater into the ocean. These wastewaters contain chemical elements whose radioactivity can last for hundreds of thousands of years.

2. Cause of occurrence

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake occurred in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. A huge shock wave impacted the cooling device of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Cause the cooling unit to shut down. This could not be stopped. The reactor core, which was hundreds of thousands of degrees, instantly heated up, detonating a large amount of hydrogen. Tokyo Electric Power Company began to introduce seawater into the reactor, and then temporarily lowered the core temperature. The wastewater has now totaled 130 Thousands of tons.

Why does Japan risk the disapproval of the world and discharge nuclear wastewater?

Japan has thought of three feasible solutions:

The first is to bury it deep underground, but this project costs both land and money. 1.3 million tons of nuclear wastewater requires 420 square kilometers of land for landfill. Calculated based on the treatment cost of one tank of nuclear wastewater is 8.3 million yen. By 2050, Japan will have to spend at least 16 trillion yen to treat this nuclear wastewater, which is approximately equivalent to 2 trillion yuan.

As for the second option, it is to dilute, evaporate and discharge it into the air. By then, TEPCO will evaporate all the nuclear wastewater in more than 1,000 iron cans, and the radioactive elements will be disposed of as nuclear waste. This is a plan that most people think is feasible, but the Japanese should want to steal the chicken and see how strong the opposition is. If the United States supports it, maybe it will be arranged as soon as possible. If the pressure is high enough, that's the only way.

The third option is to discharge it into the sea. Regarding the costs related to the discharge of nuclear sewage from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea, it is estimated that the total from 2021 to 2024 will be about 43 billion yen (approximately RMB 2.2 billion), which should include publicity costs, not just pipeline costs.

A few things to note:

1. Although Japan is the only country that has received nuclear bombings, it is also one of the few countries in the world that uses nuclear power on a large scale, with 17 nuclear power plants.

2. The purpose of using nuclear power is not only to generate electricity, but also to have the ability to build nuclear weapons within a month.

3. Nuclear wastewater pollutes the whole world, not just Japan or the Pacific Ocean.

4. Japan’s actions prove that this country is not worthy of the world’s trust. At the same time, Pandora's box was opened. Other countries will follow suit.

5. Travel to Japan will become a joke.