So, why can't Japan find a way to continue to store it or safely depose of it? Is it really because of supposedly high costs that the government can't afford?
Edit: Also, slightly off-topic, but what would happen if all the nuclear-contaminated wastewater was discharged at once rather than gradually discharged over the course of 30 years?
Edit 2: It seems like safer methods of treating the wastewater, like vapor release, will cost the Japanese government 10x more than simply releasing it into the ocean. Still, an unwise decision that prioritizes short-term costs reductions over the long-term ecological and health consequences on the people of the Asia-Pacific region.
basically it's all about cutting costs at the expense of the environmental damage
"The Fukushima water discharge will contain only harmless tritium and is not a unique event. Nuclear power plants worldwide have routinely discharged water containing tritium for over 60 years without harm to people or the environment, most at higher levels than the 22 TBq per year planned for Fukushima."
This is water that actually touched the exposed core from Fukushima during the disaster, and not the typical water used to cool nuclear cores as had been released for 60 years.
The release is extremely controversial in Asia, there have been riots and sit-in's in Japan and Korea, and accusation of receiving bribes for the organization that testified as to the radioactivity. The price of salt in Korea is inflating as well (people are hording fearing future salt will be contaminated). Korea has set up a program to inspect radioactivity every two months, at 10 potential contact points, despite saying they're OK with the release. Japan has refused all requests for inspection of their treatment methods, nor fully released the details.
This event has been really downplayed in all the English media I've seen, while highlighting China's response as though it alone is being hysterical. Some analyst have speculated that this might have been one of the items Japan requested in the recent meeting with Korea and US at Camp David.
Japanese media is similarly downplaying it for what it’s worth, although they do mention the Communist Party of Japan is opposed
I'm not surprised to hear that. I understand that a quite large chunk of the costs they listed for this water release program is actually, when parsed, the cost for the PR campaign to make it all seem aboveboard and acceptable.
