福島第1原子力発電所の処理水 海洋放出について(英語メモ)
日本でニュースになっている本件、もちろん国際的にも注目を集めていることと思います。私もホストファミリーにも聞かれたし、別用で英語メモを作ったため、ここでもシェアしたいと思います。
先に自分の思うことを書かせてもらいますが、「処理水を海洋放出する」ことは仕方ないと思います。でも、それを決定した背景(他の選択肢はどうしてダメなのか)や、安全性についての説明、地元関係者への理解を得る姿勢などが足りていない気がしました。
原発事故しかり、その後の汚染水漏洩しかり、すでに国民ならびに国際的な信頼を失ってしまっている現状を考えると理論的に「安全だ、問題ない」と言われたところで、これまでの不信感は拭えない。それがネックになってしまっているように思います。
今回、英語でメモを作る際に処理水のことをなんと書こうか迷って、わたしは'Treated water'と記載していますが、海外のインターネット記事では'contaminated water'や'wastewater' などの記載で、汚染水との区別もあまりされておらず、誤解が大きいように感じます。
さらにFinancial Timesの記事(reference *5)では、
The government considered several alternatives, including evaporating the water into the atmosphere or injecting it into underground reservoirs.
とされていながらも
Environmentalists said Japan had ignored the option of storing the water indefinitely and had chosen the cheapest approach of dumping it in the ocean.
'ignore' …「他の選択肢を無視して、安上がりな方法を選んだ」というような書き方をされています。
私も他の選択肢がなぜダメなのか理解は出来ていませんが、やはり理解が得られていない、国際的にも不信感が募っていることを認識しつつ、今後、さらに真摯な対応が求められると思いました。
1. What has been decided?
1-1. Outline
The Japanese government has announced to release treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.
1-2. Method
- Diluting treated water more than 100 times (*1)
- The radiation dose per litre will be less than 1,500 becquerels ( = 1/7 of the international specification) (*1)
- WHO regulates the radiation dose level per litre as max. 10,000 becquerel for drinking water (*1)
- ‘Japan’s chosen water disposal method is both technically feasible and in line with international practice.’ (*2)
1-3. Timing
- Aiming to start in 2 years
- It will continue for 30 years (*3)
1-4. Volume (*4)
2. Supplementary Information
2-1. What is treated water?
‘Multi-nuclide Removal Facility (ALPS) is introduced to improve the treatment capacity of contaminated water. It was difficult for the existing treatment facilities to remove radioactive materials except Cesium; however, Multi-nuclide Removal Facility can remove most of the radioactive materials except Tritium’. (*5)
2-2. What is Tritium
- ‘A radioactive isotope of hydrogen and the lightest element in the periodic table’. (*5)
- ‘It is very difficult to remove tritiated water from water, as it has the same properties as water.’ (*6)
- ‘Tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years, the time needed for half of the initial radioactivity to decay.’ (*7)
- ‘Tritium exists naturally and is found in rain water, sea water, tap water, and inside of human body as a form of tritiated water. Tritium is ingested into the human body via drinking water and excreted from the body, and then circulates in nature as the water does. It has not been confirmed to be accumulated in humans or specific organisms.’ (*6)
- ‘Radiation can be dangerous to health but everybody is exposed to a certain amount of background radiation, with higher doses when taking a long-distance flight or receiving an X-ray.’ (*7)
3. Why do they need to release it to the ocean?
3-1. Purpose
To decommission nuclear plants, significant spaces are required to dispose of radioactive materials left in the plants.
Currently, there are more than 1,061 tanks (as of Mar 2021) for wastewater and they might hinder the decommissioning process.
Releasing wastewater to the ocean and use the tanks’ space is necessary.
3-2. Other options
Injection into the strata, storing underground, emission to the air etc (*1)
However, government and project teams concluded that diluting and releasing to the ocean is the most feasible, cheap and short time solution. (*1, *7)
4. Reaction from local communities
- Concern about damaging reputation (especially the National Federation of Fisheries co-operatives) (*8)
- TEPCO makes a statement to compensate the damage caused by this (*9)
5. Reaction from other countries (*3, *5)
- China “serious concern” about the plan, calling the decision “extremely irresponsible”.
- South Korea expressed its “strong regret”
- the US cautiously endorsed
6. Reference
*1) ‘What does releasing treated water mean? (処理水の海洋放出とは)’ By Nikkei news paper (JP)
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA136NF013042021000000/
*2) ‘IAEA Ready to Support Japan on Fukushima Water Disposal, Director General Grossi Says’ by IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-ready-to-support-japan-on-fukushima-water-disposal-director-general-grossi-says
*3) ‘The radiotion dose will be below international regulation (放射線量、国際基準以下に 処理水、海水で100倍以上に希釈 説明不足で迷走招く)’by Nikkei news paper (JP)
https://www.nikkei.com/paper/article/?b=20210414&ng=DGKKZO70974330T10C21A4EA2000
*4) ‘ALPS Treated Water Q&A’ by METI
https://www.meti.go.jp/english/earthquake/nuclear/decommissioning/qa.html
*5) ‘Japan to release contaminated Fukushima plant water into Pacific’ by Financial Times
https://www-ft-com.ezproxy.sussex.ac.uk/content/00b1a068-246a-4188-a095-8c085833a355
*6) ‘Response to the damage caused by negative reputation’ by METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) (JP)
https://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuclear/hairo_osensui/leaf.pdf
*7) ‘Contaminated Water Treatment’ by TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings)
https://www.tepco.co.jp/en/decommision/planaction/alps/index-e.html
*8) ‘Focus on getting understanding from local communities (処理水の海洋放出は地元の理解重視で)’ By Nikkei news paper (JP)
https://www.nikkei.com/paper/article/?ng=DGKKZO70976180U1A410C2EA1000
*9) ‘TEPCO – releasing treated water is subject to IAEA’s confirmation (東電、処理水の海洋放出 IAEAの確認前提に)’ By Nikkei news paper (JP)
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUC169XZ0W1A410C2000000/
7. Website relevant to the topics
- Portal site for decommissioning, contaminated water and treated water (廃炉・汚染水・処理水対策ポータルサイト) by METI (JP)
https://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuclear/hairo_osensui/
- Fukushima Today by METI
https://www.meti.go.jp/english/earthquake/index.html
- Decommissioning Plan of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power by TEPCO
https://www.tepco.co.jp/en/decommision/index-e.html
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ヘッダー画像：https://www.nsr.go.jp/jimusho/fukushima1/index.html
日本もニュースに載せるときにMETIやTEPCOの元記事も添付してくれたらいいのに、と少し思ったり。
いつもにも増して真面目な投稿でした。ロックダウンが緩和して、お店も開き始めたので、街が賑わっています。ただ、わたしは気付いてしまいました、お店が再開しても結局自分は部屋に籠もってPCと向き合っているだけなのだということを…
昨日4ヶ月ぶりに髪を切り、さっぱりしたのですが、ZARAに並ぶ人々の列を横目に、あ、ロックダウン明けても遊びに行く友達がいないわ…と少しさみしくなった金曜日でしたとさ。
ぱりしゅわ 2021年4月17日 14:54 (GMT)
今日たくさん書いたので、明日はきっと投稿なしでも(自分に)許されるはずだぁ。。。