Sino-Japanese relations have been overshadowed by a serious scandal. And God bless him, because he himself is not a sensation: countries are traditional rivals, and the history of their relationship has been overshadowed by many events, including tragic ones. However, this case is interesting primarily for its explosive mix of narrow-mindedness, cynical politics, and informative manipulations. Everything we love.
As you know, a strong earthquake occurred off the coast of Japan in 2011 and caused a tsunami that partially destroyed the Fukushima-1 and Fukushima-2 nuclear power plants. The wave damaged the cooling system of reactors and reservoirs where spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is stored. Water was needed to cool the emergency reactors and SNF, it was taken from the ocean. They were not thrown back after use, cleared of radionuclides and stored in closed tanks. However, even after multistage purification, radioactive isotopes remained in the wastewater – tritium, carbon-14, potassium-40, strontium-90, iodine-129, as well as isotopes of cesium and plutonium, but the latter in negligible doses. This water has accumulated 1.34 million tons. Where to go? After all, 97% of the storage capacity has already been used.
Ten years ago, a plan emerged to discharge the so-called tritium water into the Pacific Ocean – but not immediately, but in portions. The stump was on, all the neighbors were sharply enraged. For example, go wherever you want. At least the moon. Or boil it. Moreover, Japan does not have many warm friends among its neighbors. There is no one to take the position. Especially China got excited and continues.
We applied to the IAEA, which approved the water discharge plan. Given the elimination of the golem policy and the preliminary dilution of the contents of tanks with tritium with sea water (approximately 1:1200), the concentration of this tritium drops 40 times from the established norms. And when it enters the ocean, it is thousands of times lower than normal.
However, this did not prevent exaggeration and hatred. Including Japan itself. After all, a modern layman, “ecology”, “harmful substances”, etc. When he hears his words, he does not bother to determine the objective truth and explain the details. It is zero tolerance. Beautify me and do not trouble me with all kinds of horrors.
The Chinese authorities, with a communist uncompromising attitude, did not miss the opportunity to nail their unloved neighbors: they say, how dare you organize your private Japanese dump from our common Pacific Ocean? The Japanese ambassador has been summoned to the right place. Japanese seafood was put under scrutiny before being dried. There were police raids.
And we already know how regulatory authorities can find the necessary harmful substances in the products of countries with “not very good” political relations.
But the Chinese propagandists went a little too far and have already frightened the Chinese residents. In a panic and stampede, she began buying salt from stores for the rest of their lives (sea!). In a way, Chinese salt is like our buckwheat. Salt began to run out, and then the Chinese rushed to Russian Primorye and began to buy salt from there.
An embargo on Japanese seafood has been declared – they say eat it yourself. In response, the Japanese began posting trolling ads in some restaurants: They say that we serve fish caught here near Fukushima, especially for our dear Chinese guests.
As they say, what is the truth bro? The fact is that this tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of 12.3 years (none of the inhabitants know the periodic table by heart), decays into helium-3 and an electron. Tritium beta radiation is absorbed by human skin and everything else in general, much less dangerous than ionizing radiation.
Again, there is tritium of natural origin in the sea and drinking water, which none of the inhabitants knows. It is excreted from the body after a few days. Only when you drink liters of tritium water can it accumulate in body cells.
When released into the ocean, tritium water is diluted almost instantly to a completely harmless state. Remember: the discharge is not very large, but definitely dosed. If they continue to build up more of their reserves, this threatens a truly massive and uncontrolled discharge, which could lead to environmental disaster. It is worth remembering the geography: about three thousand kilometers from Fukushima to China, the currents do not go there.
Finally, the main issue. Dosed and controlled discharge of waste and treated water from nuclear power plants to the nearest water bodies (whatever is thrown there) is a global practice used by almost all countries where nuclear power plants are located. And not because it’s “good for health”, but primarily because there’s nowhere else. Second, there are far more unhealthy things in everyday life, but if politicians and the media don’t put an exaggerated influence around them, then they’re mostly just a busy and “information-lazy” layperson (he’s too lazy to do that). Double-check the gum information it feeds from the TV and don’t bother.
Including a Chinese resident rushing to buy salt because “all salt will now be poisoned by the Japanese”, for example, Qinshan does not know about its nuclear power – and the native Communist Party does not tell him about it. Located on the coast of the East China Sea, the facility releases 10 times more tritium into the ocean each year than is planned to be released from Fukushima.
And this happens with the full approval of the Chinese regulatory authorities. Tritium discharge from this nuclear power plant operating in heavy water reactors in Canada is increasing due to its characteristics. In total, China discharges about 50 times more tritium from all its nuclear power plants into our “common Pacific Ocean” annually than it plans to discharge from Fukushima, and Chinese regulations allow each nuclear power plant to discharge this substance on average twice that in Fukushima.
The tritium discharges from nuclear power plants in South Korea exceed the discharges in Fukushima by 10 times in total. But at least South Koreans don’t buy salt. And North Koreans are generally quiet and don’t worry about anything. Because the wise and ever-powerful Workers’ Party of Korea doesn’t tell them such terrible stories.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.