There is said to be over 1 million tons of contaminated water in Fukushima that needs to be disposed of and authorities say that dumping it into the ocean is the only option available.

There is room to store the liquid until 2022 but after that they are going to run out of space.

By 2022, according to Japan's environment minister, they will need to dump the contaminated water into the sea because this is the only option. Still, they are waiting on a verdict before making their final move.

Already, South Korea has asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to go ahead and conduct an inspection on-site to determine the extent of the problem with the contaminated water. If they go ahead and dump that into the ocean, it's understandable that they might fear the impact could affect the marine ecosystems in the region of South Korea and other areas.

More than one million tonnes of contaminated water is being held in hundreds of sealed tanks.

As well, energy experts are already adding their opinion to the mix on this matter, suggesting that dumping the contaminated water into the ocean might be the cheapest solution but it isn't the safest, they warn.

According to one member of Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, K. Ik-jung, dumping that water into the sea could be the most devastating option.

“There is another option to deal with radioactive water,... Japan can keep it in the tanks until the radiation level becomes low enough. But this takes time and money. It will take about 300 years until it is okay to discharge the water.” - K. Ik-jung of Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

It's repeatedly being alleged that the Japanese government doesn't want to pay the full costs of storing and processing that water until all the contaminants have been removed.

The fishermen in the area are concerned for the plan as well, as they are still struggling to restore the reputation of their products following the Fukushima disaster several years ago.

The head of the Fukushima prefecture's federation of fisheries cooperatives has made it clear that the fishermen strongly oppose any plans to discharge that contaminated water into the sea where they depend on their livelihood.

Water Isn't Ready To Be Dumped

It's reported that many of the tanks might still have radiation levels that are above government standards for ocean dumping, some have previously been found to have radiation levels 20,000 times greater than their rules dictate as acceptable for ocean dumping.

For now the government has said that they are holding off on making any decision until they receive that report from an expert panel on the matter. Still, time is going to run out eventually and they need to find a solution sooner rather than later.

Many expect though that they are going to go with the quickest and cheapest route of just dumping it into the ocean.

Pics:
pixabay

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