Busan ramps up monitoring for release of radioactive water at Fukushima

Busan City Government officials inspect the origins of imported marine products being sold at a street market in Busan. Courtesy of Busan City Government

By Ko Dong-hwan

Busan City Government has rolled out a plan to prepare for Japan's scheduled release of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant next year.

The city released the plan on March 15 amid concerns that over 1.25 million tons of contaminated radioactive water currently stored in about 1,000 tanks on the site will be released into the ocean for 40 years starting in 2023.

The nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture was hit when a 15-meter tsunami was unleashed during an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 in March 2011, flooding into four nuclear reactors, causing the failure of emergency cooling generators, which led to three nuclear meltdowns, three hydrogen explosions and the release of radioactive contamination into the surrounding environment.

In the last decade, over 1.25 million tons of contaminated seawater had been pumped through the damaged units to prevent them from overheating, and is now stored in hundreds of steel tanks on the site. But the Japanese government announced in April 2021 that it would dump the water into the ocean, saying that it will be treated and that they have no more capacity to store it.

The efforts by Korea's biggest port city also came after the Japanese government's planned release of the radioactive water beginning in 2023 has drawn lukewarm protests from the international community.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been conducting inspections inside the facility but has come to support the Japanese government's release of the radioactive waters into the ocean, saying that the radiation in the treated water will be very low, and that the water will be released gradually over years to minimize risks. The organization's inspectors visited the facility last February to prepare for the release.

But a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck during the night of March 16 in the ocean 60 kilometers off the coast of Fukushima has rekindled fears lingering over the disaster in 2011. This latest quake sent shockwaves to Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures, killing one and injuring at least 88 in Fukushima, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK on Thursday morning. The quake reportedly did not damage the steel tanks storing contaminated radioactive water on the nuclear power plant site.

To ramp up its monitoring, Busan will set up an additional unmanned radioactivity monitoring device in the waters edging Nam District to boost the city's radioactivity monitoring of the area's seawater. The city has already placed one of the same devices offshore near the districts of Gangseo, Dong and Haeundae, and two in the sea next to Gijang.

The city will also increase the number of radioactivity screening tests carried out in coastal waters from 140 in 2021 to 180 this year. The city has increased its monitoring of signs of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, which might have drifted from the contaminated Fukushima area seawater from once a week to every day at two locations near Gijang and one near Yeongdo District.

Tanks storing treated radioactive water after it was used to cool molten fuel debris from the plant's meltdowns are seen at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, March 3, 2022. AP-Yonhap

The city also plans to examine more thoroughly signs of radioactivity in marine, agricultural and manufactured products already on store shelves. The authority plans to collect and examine at least 800 samples each year from traditional street markets, wholesale markets, large-scale supermarkets, and online retailers in the city's 16 districts. Busan's office of education will also cooperate with the city government to inspect ingredients used in school meals for signs of radioactivity.

Busan's marine resources laboratory will support the city's radioactivity screening by launching additional radioactivity pre-processing equipment to raise screening capacity. This equipment will enable the lab to examine in detail some 114 marine species in the waters surrounding Busan over 300 times a year.

The city will also intensify checks on whether the origins of imported marine products distributed across the city are well indicated, by organizing a joint taskforce with the city's district offices, the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service, the coast guard, and consumer activist groups.

The chief of the city government's marine agriculture and fisheries bureau, Kim Yoo-jin, said that Busan's efforts are intended to assuage residents' deep concerns about Japan's release of the radioactive water. "We will further expand communication channels with various company representatives to secure as many ways as we can to protect our residents, marine ecosystem and prevent potential damage to our local marine product manufacturers," the official said.

To better inform the public, the Busan government will upgrade its homepage to display the latest results of inspections of radioactivity levels in seawater and marine products carried out by both the city and the central government.

Shortly after the Japanese government's announcement that it plans to release the contaminated water into the ocean, Busan sent a statement demanding the Japanese government to repeal the decision. The city also formed a coalition working group with the local governments of Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province, South Jeolla Province and Jeju Island to pen a joint petition against the Japanese government and delivered it to the Korean central government.