13 years have passed since that terrible March 11 that shocked Japan. On a Friday afternoon, at exactly 2:46 p.m., a magnitude 9 earthquake shook the coast in the country’s northeastern Tohoku region for six long minutes, triggering a series of interconnected events. destruction of a large area and the subsequent spread of radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The toll of the triple disaster was devastating: more than 22,000 people died and 29,000 residents were unable to return to their homes. Statistics tracking disaster-related deaths, including suicides due to illness or stress, are alarming; According to the National Police Reconstruction Agency, the number exceeds 3,800.
‘Danger to all humanity’: Fukushima’s radioactive water causes China and Japan to fight
There is great fear and a large part of the population has not returned to their homes so the area is now desolate. Tohoku cities are struggling to attract new residents, especially in Fukushima Prefecture. Although the number of displaced people has decreased from 470,000, seven municipalities in the province are still designated exclusion zones due to radiation. Access near the nuclear power plant remains prohibited and dismantling work is expected to continue until 2041-2051. Here, the process of cleaning up the plant is slowly progressing amid criticism and diplomatic conflicts.
The anger of countries bordering the Sea of Japan was evident after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last July 4 recognized the Tokyo administration’s 2021 plan to begin the gradual spilling of Radioactive water treated at the nuclear power plant. The Pacific Ocean, which currently has more than a thousand tanks on site, equivalent to approximately 500 Olympic swimming pools, has now reached 98 percent of its storage capacity. This is water used to cool the plant core and reduce radioactive hazard. In the final report submitted by the director-general, we read that it is a plan that the UN agency describes as “in line with international safety standards” because the release of wastewater would have “negligible radiological impact on the population and the environment”. agency Rafael Grossi to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The release of wastewater will not occur immediately but gradually: the process will actually take at least 30 years. The three damaged reactors contained approximately 880 tonnes of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel, but no one knows what state the melted fuel was in or exactly in which part of the reactors it was located. And it is important to know qIn order to develop a plan to safely remove these items.
The plan involves Tepco treating wastewater to remove the most harmful components through its Alps system (Advanced liquid handling system) before releasing it into the Pacific. The water cleaning mechanism would remove most of the radioactive material, except for tritium, a hydrogen isotope thought to pose little danger to the human body when absorbed in small amounts and dissolved in large amounts of water.
Precisely because of tritium, neighboring countries such as China, South Korea and North Korea objected to the Tokyo administration’s project to impose import restrictions on Japanese fish products. As a sign of protest, China banned the import of all fish products from Japan and used this issue to fuel propaganda against the Japanese government (the historical enemy of the People’s Republic and supporter of Taiwan’s independence): Beijing accused Tokyo of wanting this. He was afraid of using the sea as a sewer and feared any consequences if the Japanese government went ahead with the idea of releasing wastewater into the Pacific. The same measure was also implemented by Russia, Hong Kong and Macau.
However, implementation of the Tokyo plan continues. The Japanese government and Tepco argue that disposing of the wastewater is a crucial step towards dismantling the Fukushima plant. But due to a lack of data, technology and plans for what to do with melted, possibly radioactive fuel and other nuclear waste, it is difficult to have a clear vision of how dismantling the plant might end after its life ends. Completed. cleaning.
China, Hong Kong and Japan fight over fish
What remains of the memory of that triple disaster? The Tokyo government has decided not to hold a large-scale event for the commemoration from 2022, unlike municipalities in affected areas that hold separate ceremonies locally. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida attended an event organized by Fukushima Prefecture. “We are determined to create a disaster-resistant nation,” Japan’s prime minister said, pledging to make the most of past experiences to deal with disasters that have also triggered serious alarm, such as the January 1, 2024 earthquake. tsunami
Source: Today IT

Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.