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Japan must come up with solutions acceptable to world
A group of U.N. experts has issued a warning to the Japanese government over its controversial plan to dump contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific. "Contaminated water still remaining at the plant poses major environmental and human rights risks and any decision to discharge it into the Pacific Ocean cannot be an acceptable solution," the experts said Thursday in a statement on the website of the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
"Ten years after the tragic disaster, thousands of people are still suffering the grave consequences of contamination which continues to affect their physical and mental health, livelihood and quality of life," said the statement prepared by five U.N. special rapporteurs on toxic waste and human rights, and other issues. "We recall that Japan has a continuing duty to prevent safety risks and exposure, especially the exposure of children and other vulnerable groups to radiation." Their perspective on the Fukushima radioactive water is entirely consistent with that pointed out by other nuclear experts so far.
Japan says it will treat contaminated water with the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) before releasing it as the need for discharge has increased with the storage tanks forecast to be full by the summer of 2022. But only 30 percent of the treated water has passed the safety standard, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Company. Tritium, an isotope of hydrogen, cannot be removed from the contaminated water even when it is reprocessed. The presence of highly dangerous radioactive materials such as cesium and strontium also makes purification extremely difficult.
So Japan's release of contaminated water will surely pose a direct threat to people as well as the marine environment. It would be in breach of its obligations as defined under international environmental laws, including the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Japanese government should come up with a viable solution that can be accepted by the international community, keeping in mind that the world is watching ― closely and seriously ― to see whether the island country will act responsibly.
