Joseph
by Tyler Durden
In a world where the United Nations is pressing the West (but oddly not China) to cut emissions drastically to save the world from global warming, and where investing in the environment, society and governance is the hottest new trend in the investment world, it is remarkable that the government of Japan will do so. Something so retro that treated sewage from the devastated Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is dumped overseas.
TEPCO has finally settled on a plan to dispose of the nuclear wastewater that has accumulated in the destroyed reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The facility will build a one kilometer underwater pipeline to drain water directly from the debris of Reactor No. 1 in the Pacific Ocean, as experts believe the currents will quickly weaken them and carry them away.
The undersea tunnel will be created by unloading rocks on the sea floor near the No. 5 reactor at the Fukushima plant, and will extend 1 km east of the sea, according to the British newspaper, The Guardian. Japan Times.
The news, announced on Tuesday, isn’t exactly a surprise. TEPCO is the Japanese utility company tasked with overseeing the cleanup of the plant, which became the epicenter of a major nuclear disaster when an earthquake and tsunami struck the plant. It caused the melting of three reactors. Aside from Chernobyl, Fukushima is the only nuclear accident to have a Level 7 rating on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
According to Nikkei, TEPCO plans to officially announce the decision Wednesday. The final plan will then be submitted to Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority next month for review. The area’s fishing industry is understandably opposed to the measure, but few analysts anticipate their resistance to scuttling the plan, given that there are no alternatives to disposing of radioactive wastewater.
Since the Japanese government He first approved the plan in AprilTEPCO has explored whether it should release the water along the shore, or further into the sea.
Ultimately, the plan to dump it offshore won, as experts decided that this strategy had a better chance of seeing sewage flowing away by ocean currents (apparently, downstream currents could greatly complicate dumping).
Hotel owners and other business operators in Fukushima were also in favor of discharging wastewater far enough to prevent reputational (or potential backlash) damage. Before releasing the wastewater, TEPCO plans to remove as much of the radioactive material as possible, then dilute the remainder with at least 100 parts seawater.
Japanese fishermen are certainly not the only party opposing the plan. back in April, China criticized Japan’s plans to dump wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, He even went so far as to threaten retaliation.
Pumping water from (at least one) the mayors is an important step toward cleaning up Fukushima Daiichi, but the effort is far from over. Last year, TEPCO I set a 44-year plan To turn off reactor No. 2.
All this ensures that Japan will deal with cleaning up the disaster at Fukushima for some time. It may not be over by then Japan will host the next Olympic Games.
Source: ZeroHedge
