Re <<NAK appeal timeline...>>
It would seem, on casual and ocular inspection, the Democrats led by Team Biden, has sold you and your neighbours down the river, and unlike in the case of NAK, appeal unlikely
the only hope, is that a spontaneous and true community of like-minded can shame the Japanese officialdom into doing the correction actions
sushi or sashimi? crab or lobster, or salmon or tuna?
safecast.org
I suppose Team China can charge Team Japan with state-sponsored environmental terrorism, and take further appropriate action.
South Korea said they posed a risk to the marine environment and the safety of neighboring countries, while China said it reserved the right to take further action.
bloomberg.com
U.S. Friends Join China in Ripping Japan Plan on Fukushima Water
Aaron Clark
13 April 2021, 07:14 GMT+8
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U.S. partners South Korea and Taiwan joined China in opposing Japan’s plan to release more than a million cubic meters of radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean starting in about two years.
The three Asian governments, all with coastlines nearby, swiftly criticized Japan’s announcement Tuesday that it would conduct controlled releases that are expected to last for several decades. South Korea said they posed a risk to the marine environment and the safety of neighboring countries, while China said it reserved the right to take further action.
Japan will begin releasing more than a million cubic meters of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean in about two years, splitting the U.S. from other Asian allies that joined China in condemning the move.
China, South Korea and Taiwan all swiftly issued statements criticizing the controlled releases over the next few decades, with Beijing saying they posed a risk to the marine environment and the safety of neighboring countries.
The U.S., on the other hand, said the approach appeared to be in line with global standards while the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said the global body would help ensure the plan is carried out “without an adverse impact on human health and the environment.”
“Disposing of the treated water is an unavoidable issue for decommissioning the Fukushima nuclear power plant,” Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said.
Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant seen from Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, on March 7.
Photographer: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg
The decision ends years of debate over how to dispose of the water, which is enough to fill more than 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. It has been leaking into the reactors that suffered core meltdowns after an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
The U.S. backing comes as Suga prepares to become the first foreign leader to hold an in-person summit with President Joe Biden in Washington ahead of a climate conference, where Japan may announce new 2030 emissions reduction targets. To meet its vow to be carbon neutral by 2050, some government officials contend Japan will need to restart almost every nuclear reactor it shuttered in the aftermath of the 2011 meltdowns, and then build more.
“We thank Japan for its transparent efforts in its decision to dispose of the treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi site,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.
Discharges are common practice in the industry, and Japan has said the releases will meet global guidelines. A panel within Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry recommended last year the water be released into the ocean or evaporated. The proposal stipulated that any water released into the environment must be re-purified and diluted to meet standards, and that the discharges take place over decades, according to a December 2019 report from METI.
While Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. cycles in water to keep fuel and debris cool at the Fukushima site, fresh groundwater flows in daily and becomes contaminated. That water is pumped out and cleaned in a process that removes most of the radioactive elements except for tritium. Then it’s stored in one of roughly 1,000 tanks at the site, which are forecast to be full by mid-2022.
Read more: Why Japan Is Dumping Water From Fukushima in the Sea: QuickTake
Greenpeace criticized Japan’s plan to release the treated Fukushima water into the ocean and said there are other options that should be considered.
“Rather than using the best available technology to minimize radiation hazards by storing and processing the water over the long term, they have opted for the cheapest option, dumping the water into the Pacific Ocean,” the group said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report in April 2020 that METI’s recommendations were “based on a sufficiently comprehensive analysis and on a sound scientific and technical basis.”
Taiwan’s Atomic Energy Council expressed regret about the decision, saying it had expressed opposition to the plan earlier. The body in Taipei said it set up 33 monitoring spots in waters nearby Taiwan to assess any impact of radioactivity.
Hu Xijin, an editor at the Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper, said the U.S. approved of the plan “to cement Japan’s loyalty.”
“The U.S. thinks it’s far from Japan and has the least risk,” he wrote on Twitter. “But ocean currents mean it will face the same risk in future.”
— With assistance by Isabel Reynolds
(Updates with details throughout.)
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