Japan complains Fukushima water release created terrifying Chinese Spam monster
- Reference: 1693294206
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/08/29/fukushima_water_release_reaction/
- Source link:
Chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno today complained of harassment from China – incidents [1]characterized by local press as over 200 phone calls to restaurants, hotels, harassment calls, local governments and even schools, all protesting the release of the water.
Japan insists waste water from the stricken power plant is safe, as the concentrations of tritium it contains emit just one seventh of the radiation considered the maximum threshold for safe drinking water. The carbon-14 content of the water is claimed to currently be just two percent of the upper limit allowed by regulations.
[2]
Japan's neighbors aren't convinced. China has [3]labelled the release of water a "selfish and highly irresponsible action," banned imports of seafood, and noted concerns voiced by Russia and North Korea, Germany's comments that such releases of water are a last resort, and Thailand's decision to test Japanese seafood rigorously.
[4]
[5]
Which is what's also happening in Hong Kong, where tests conducted on Monday [6]found nothing to worry about.
South Korea has banned seafood imports from Japan, but president Yoon Suk Yeol [7]reportedly tucked into a seafood lunch on Monday – and intends to do so every day this week, to increase public confidence.
[8]Hacktivists attack Japanese government over Fukushima wastewater release
[9]Miniature nuclear reactors could be the answer to sustainable datacenter growth
[10]Japan lacks the expertise for renewed nuclear power after Fukushima
[11]Japan's earthquake disrupts already fragile tech sector
Of course, it's a little absurd that South Korea and Hong Kong are testing seafood that may have been caught before the release of water started on August 24, caught far away, or spent very little time anywhere near Fukushima's discharge.
For what it's worth, Japan's environment ministry publishes [12]maps showing tritium levels found in waters in a 50km radius beyond Fukushima. All are below dangerous levels. And they should remain there, if Japanese authorities' assessments were correct.
[13]
Faith in Japanese authorities may be hard to sustain given they allowed construction of a nuclear plant by the sea, in an earthquake-prone country, and gave it redundancy rigs that did not survive a foreseeable combination of events. ®
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[1] https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20230829/k10014177391000.html
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZO3Bwq6409qwZ1iR@LUYKgAAAYc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202308/t20230828_11133961.html
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZO3Bwq6409qwZ1iR@LUYKgAAAYc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZO3Bwq6409qwZ1iR@LUYKgAAAYc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202308/28/P2023082800809.htm
[7] https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skorea-president-eats-seafood-lunch-amid-concern-over-japan-water-release-2023-08-28/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/14/hactivitsts_claim_japanese_government_attack/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/smr_nuclear_datacenter/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/04/japan_nuclear_expertise/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/17/earthquake_strikes_wobbling_already_fragile/
[12] https://shorisui-monitoring.env.go.jp/map/01/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZO3Bwq6409qwZ1iR@LUYKgAAAYc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: "China has labelled [this] a selfish and highly irresponsible action,"
Yes, their complaints about pollution might have more weight if they stopped building new coal-fired power stations.
Re: "China has labelled [this] a selfish and highly irresponsible action,"
And doesn't something like 50% of the worlds discharge of plastic into the sea come from China?
Re: "China has labelled [this] a selfish and highly irresponsible action,"
Just to stress China's hypocrisy, burning coal releases radioactivity ( [1]Wikipedia , [2]Scientific American ).
Icon: anti-gas mask
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_and_environmental_impact_of_the_coal_industry#Radiation_exposure
[2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste/
Re: "China has labelled [this] a selfish and highly irresponsible action,"
Or
“China has labelled [this] a shellfish and highly irradiated action,"
(Sorry)
Be fair:
"Faith in Japanese authorities may be hard to sustain given they allowed construction of a nuclear plant by the sea, in an earthquake-prone country, and gave it redundancy rigs that did not survive a foreseeable combination of events."
You build it close to the sea because of the cooling required.
The redundacy rigs didn't survive a tsunami resulting from a double earthquake which moved japan a few metres east and half a metre down. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan.
The tsunami overwhelmed the (now lowered by the earthquake) defenses - and destroyed the pumps which cooled the generators - as well as external connections.
To call it forseeable is trivial in hindsight.
Re: Be fair:
Ran out of edit time...
The second part is that to fail to apply lessons learnt in this and other locations worldwide would be very silly indeed.
And the third part is that TEPCO, and the Japanese authorities, should have thought more after the '99 flooding in France, and after the '02 revision of tsunami safety methodology.
- Had they considered more waterproofing, or higher elevation, for the cooling pumps etc, then this discussion might not be taking place - but note that the tsunami was still twice as high as even the updated methodology suggested.
Re: Be fair:
You are missing one very important detail....
It was not only foreseeable that the plant would have to deal with a tsunami, it was actually foreseen.
"note that the tsunami was still twice as high as even the updated methodology suggested."
No, that was the modelling that Tepco published to justify locating it's plant equipment where it did, and they stuck to that even after stronger earthquakes were registered. They ignored newer models of potential tsunamis done by it's own scientists, based on which the generators and pumps should have been located on the roof of the building (or in any case at a higher level). Instead, they used the old model which predicted a lower maximum possible tsunami height, based on which they claimed that the plant was safe. (and of course, probably saving themselves millions in potential equipment relocation costs)
And the Japanese regulator allowed them to make that call themselves, instead of doing the proper calculations themselves. I guess it was just cheaper to install the equipment lower down.
https://news.usc.edu/86362/fukushima-disaster-was-preventable-new-study-finds/
Re: Be fair:
It was very much a case of the swiss cheese model. In addition the GE Mk1 was known to be vulnerable to earthquakes as the cooling pipework is basically the main support for the pressure vessel and there were some basic lessons learned from three mile island that were never made mandatory, such as hydrogen recombiners.
During the meanwhile ...
... The only thing dangerous about the water release is the politics involved.
The amount of tritium released into the Pacific Ocean at Fukushima is much less than one percent of the amount produced naturally every year in the atmosphere by cosmic rays:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium#Cosmic_rays
Perhaps people should be protesting about the Milky Way.
Surprising anyway that China should grumble about a batch of tritium being released into the Pacific after ten years of storage when over the same period they themselves seem quietly to have released at least as much from their facilities at Fuqing and Sanmen - into the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea repectively:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium#Production
Talk about teapots calling kettles!
How many weeks before a giant radioactive kaiju climbs out of the sea and rampages through Tokyo?
I'm holding out for Godzilla!
I can’t wait.
It may finally wake Godzilla and Mothra for another epic battle!
So long as we do not wake Mecha-Streisand.
Japanese versus Chinese seafood
I’d happily consume Japanese sushi looooooooong before I’d ever buy imported Chinese toilet shrimp!
"China has labelled [this] a selfish and highly irresponsible action,"
Yeah, and China knows all about those actions.