Japan obligated to pause its water plan: China Daily editorial

Protesters take part in a rally against the dumping of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Tokyo, Japan. [Photo/Agencies]

Despite the opposition from its neighbors and from Japanese society, and the concerns expressed around the world, Japan is about to begin releasing the nuclear-contaminated water from the tsunami-destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

Discharging the water containing radioactive isotopes into the ocean could harm marine life and the overall ecosystem and marine environment.

Yet disregarding this, Tokyo Electric Power Company, owner of the nuclear power plant, unveiled a detailed discharge plan that will see the first batch of nuclear-contaminated water released into the ocean starting from Thursday noon. This initial discharge will see a total of 7,800 tons of the accumulated water dumped into the sea within 17 days.

Although the Fumio Kishida government claims it has chosen the solution after thoroughly weighing its effects against other methods, and its impact on the marine environment will be "negligible" as the water will meet safety standards, the international community has enough reasons to be skeptical about its assurances given the lack of transparency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency that studied the feasibility of the disposal method has chosen to seal its mouth in response to queries on why its report did not reflect the views of all the participating experts and on what grounds the head of the agency traveled to the Pacific island countries to lobby for their support for the report, something the Kishida government should have done.

No matter how harmless Tokyo and the IAEA claim the nuclear-contaminated water is, neither of them is prepared to say that it poses no risk at all to the environment or human health. It is impossible to know what the long-term consequences on the marine environment will be after at least 1.3 million tons of radioactive water is dumped into the ocean over 30 years, or even longer.

The great lengths the Kishida government has gone to in a bid to ease the opposition of the country's fishing community, particularly in promising de facto compensation for their losses until the end of the project, speak volumes for the fact that it knows the impacts will not be as "negligible" as it claims.

The Kishida government should immediately press pause on the plan, and communicate with neighboring countries with sincerity and goodwill to find the best and most responsible way of disposing of the water, and accept rigorous international oversight. The limited storage space in Fukushima is by no means an excuse for Japan to dump the water in such haste. No country should be allowed to treat the ocean as a sewer. China will take all steps necessary to protect the marine environment, ensure food safety and safeguard people's life and health.