On April 13, Japan announced they will release 1.25 million tons of treated wastewater contaminated by the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean. Prime minister Yoshihide Suga said the proposal is a realistic is bsolution to the issue of dwindling storage for water contaminated by radioactive debris left exposed by the disaster 10 years ago. Though the outcome was inevitable, the government’s decision has long been coming. The contaminated water, added to rain and ground water accumulated daily at the rate of 140 tons.

During the cooling process, the water becomes dangerously contaminated and must be filtered with multi-nuclide removal equipment. According to TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), they remove radionuclides to levels below “legally required concentrations” for release into the environment. Treated water is stored in a huge steel tank once a week. However, since more that 1000 tanks are already blocking the plant site, additional storage capacity is expected to end next year and water must be discharged. 

Though due to manufacture in the early stages of filtering, about 70% of the water stored in the tank now contains radioactive materials. As a result, TEPCO will have to construct an additional treatment facility to conduct a second round of filtering of about 750,000 tons of water. 

Despite these precautions, there was strong opposition from the parties involved. Greenpeace called the decision “an outrage,” while Japan’s national federation of fisheries cooperatives described it as, “utterly unacceptable,” because the resulting negative publicity is sure to scare off some people from eating fish caught in the area.

Japan’s neighbors were also quick to voice opposition. China’s Foreign Ministry stated, “Despite doubts and opposition from many people and abroad, Japan has unilaterally decided to release the Fukushima nuclear wastewater into the sea before checking all safe ways of disposal. Also they didn’t fully consult with neighboring countries and the international community.” Above all, China, South Korea, and Taiwan had agreed with the announcement. 

However, the plan was supported by the U.S. State Department and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Especially the U.S. State Department asserted before its announcement that Japan weighed its choices and effects transparently enough, and appeared to have approached world-recognized nuclear safety standards.