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The Reuters news staff had no role in the production of this content. It was created by Reuters Plus, the brand marketing studio of Reuters.

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Japan’s challenges and initiatives in discharging Fukushima water

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Beginning this year, more than 1.3 million tons of water from Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station will be gradually released into the Pacific Ocean . The process will take several decades. Known as ALPS treated water, it has steadily built up at the power plant since March 2011, when the tsunami that claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 people also knocked out cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt down.

ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) is a custom purification system that extracts the radionuclides picked up by water as it cooled the damaged reactors and fuel debris, as well as from rainwater and groundwater that got into the reactor buildings. All radionuclides are extracted until the concentrations are reduced to well below regulatory standards except tritium , which is extremely difficult to separate from water due to its chemical similarity to hydrogen .

Tritium risks?

A relatively weak source of radiation, tritium is a potential danger to humans only if consumed in large quantities . According to Professor Mikhail Balonov, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert on radiation and tritium, the concentrations in the ALPS treated water will give negligible “radiation doses to any humans residing in Japan and other close countries [when] compared with worldwide doses from background radiation.”

Professor Balonov, who also carried out extensive research on the effects of radiation on humans in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident, notes that numerous other nuclear power facilities around the world discharge exponentially more tritium annually than the levels to be released in the discharge of ALPS treated water.

Decommissioning and discharge

Nevertheless, TEPCO and authorities in Japan acknowledge the inevitable concerns about the discharge of water from the site of a nuclear accident where the decommissioning process is ongoing. With that in mind, they are proactively engaged in dialogues with stakeholders and making information about the process clearly and widely available. Among those who have expressed opposition or concern regarding the discharge of ALPS treated water into the sea are fishing associations, environmental groups, countries neighboring Japan, and Pacific Island nations.

Inhabitants of Pacific islands are understandably uneasy about the potential pollution of the waters around their homelands given the legacy of hundreds of nuclear weapons tests carried out in the region in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Indeed, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) President David Panuelo gave a speech at the United Nation General Assembly in September 2022 in which he stated that his country had the “gravest concern,” about the water release. “We cannot close our eyes to the unimaginable threats of nuclear contamination, marine pollution, and eventual destruction of the Blue Pacific Continent,” said Panuelo. In a Guardian op-ed about the discharge in January this year, Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretary General Henry Puna similarly wrote of “our experience with nuclear contamination.” Puna went on to note: “I am not asking that we discontinue the plans to discharge. I am asking that we take the time and work together to ensure scientific rigor in order to receive the assurance of safety needed for people’s health and for sound stewardship of the ocean.”

Dissemination and diplomacy

Responding to these worries, the Japanese government has shared detailed information and explanations with the Pacific Island nations. Following a meeting with Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio at the Japan-Micronesia Summit in February, the nation’s two leaders issued a joint statement in which President Panuelo stated that the FSM is

no longer as fearful or concerned as previously related at the United Nations General Assembly and the transparent briefings and discussions have substantially increased the FSM’s deep trust in Japan’s intentions and Japan’s technological capabilities in not harming our shared oceanic assets and resources.

“

Secretary Elieisar, President Panuelo and Ambassador Michigami share an enjoyable moment together

H.E. David W. Panuelo shakes H.E. Hisashi Michigami’s hand

According to the statement, the “transparent briefings” from MICHIGAMI Hisashi, Ambassador of Japan to the FSM, were “extraordinarily fruitful for the FSM’s understanding on this complex matter.” In an interview with Ambassador MICHIGAMI by Reuters Plus, when asked what explanation he had given to the FSM, he modestly prefaced his comments by saying “I did nothing special,” but hailed the willingness of the FSM president and officials “to listen to me without prejudice,” and adopt a “science-based and prudent mindset.”

They asked me a lot of questions and I replied one by one. It was the FSM’s pride, responsibility, and conscience to pursue objective analysis and to tell the truth to their people.

“

The island nations acknowledged that the words “nuclear power plant” or “tritium” were enough to strike fear into the hearts of their people, while the FSM officials showed greater recognition of the safety of this process, according to the ambassador. The ambassador explained about the IAEA, of which the FSM is not a member. He said "the IAEA is the most responsible world organization for this issue," and the IAEA monitors nuclear facilities not only in Fukushima but also around the world. ALPS treated water has been thoroughly reviewed by the agency.

With all these dramas as a backdrop, President Panuelo declared: “Our country is no longer fearful or concerned about this issue now as we trust in Japan's intentions and technological capabilities not to harm our shared oceanic interests.”

The same month, the PIF Secretariat and a panel of experts that the Pacific Islanders established to examine the ALPS water issue visited the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and held meetings with officials of the Government and TEPCO. This followed a series of online briefings in 2022. During the February meeting with the PIF delegation, Prime Minister KISHIDA reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the discharge of ALPS treated water into the sea will not be allowed in a manner that endangers the lives of Japanese citizens or those of the citizens of Pacific Island countries, nor in such a way that it adversely affects human health or the marine environment. Information and data about both the ALPS treated water release and the decommissioning of the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have long been available to the public, and continue to be disseminated and accessible. To date, measures include more than

MICHIGAMI Hisashi, Ambassador of Japan to the FSM

President David Panuelo, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)

Continued monitoring

The effects of discharge of ALPS treated water will be reviewed by both the Nuclear Regulation Authority and the IAEA . Gustavo Caruso, IAEA director for the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, and chair of the agency’s Task Force reviewing the discharge, said that “corroboration and verification of Japanese data, in particular from the water in the tanks before the release, and the environmental monitoring of the sea, the fish, the seaweed, the sediment” is of critical importance, so that it can be compared with readings taken over the course of the release process. “This is vital for the mission. We have agency laboratories with vast experience in this topic…which we are working with to corroborate, to know what the real values and numbers are,” added Caruso, speaking in Japan after a January 2023 IAEA inspection visit to the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. With the ALPS treated water set to be released gradually over decades, TEPCO estimates that the annual discharge of radioactive material will be no higher than when the plant was in operation. According to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the level of tritium discharge from the Fukushima plant both during normal operations and the planned water disposal is a fraction of the discharge from numerous nuclear plants in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Long road ahead

Twelve years after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, numerous challenges remain. The discharge of ALPS treated water is a major task and a vital element of the decommissioning process, which will continue for decades. Throughout this process, Japan seeks to maintain dialogue with stakeholders and to disseminate accurate and timely information as Fukushima moves gradually toward a full recovery from the events of March 2011.