Japan must reconsider polluted water plan: China Daily editorial

If it is to convince the world that the nuclear-contaminated water it plans to dump into the sea will not harm the marine environment, Japan must exhaust all means possible to eliminate all harmful radioactive elements from the water before it discharges it into the ocean.

Instead of doing that, it seems that Japan is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the world.

That is why China and the Republic of Korea have raised concerns about the plan at the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

And it is not just people in these two countries that have doubts about the safety of the contaminated water and oppose the Japanese government's decision to dump it into the Pacific Ocean, there is also a lot of opposition within Japan itself to the plan.

Japanese media reported recently that the Tokyo Electric Power Company, operator of the stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima, is soliciting technologies to filter radioactive tritium from the contaminated water, which is strong evidence that far from enough has been done to treat it. People therefore have reason to believe that the water contains a lot of radioactive elements that will contaminate the water if discharged into the Pacific Ocean and thus pose a threat to marine life and the health of those who eat seafood.

People also have good reason to believe that both the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company have told lies about what has been done to filter the water and that the water is safe to be discharged into the sea.

When a Japanese official claimed that the water was safe enough to drink, the world should have been clear that Japan has been deceiving it, because if the contaminated water were really safe enough to drink, he would have drank some to prove it and it would be used to water crops. If it is safe why would Japan waste such a precious resource by discharging it into the sea?

It was reported that some containers holding the contaminated water leaked in May, and some contaminated water has already leaked into the ocean. But the Tokyo Electric Power Company and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant concealed this until it was reported by the media.

While dumping the contaminated water into the ocean is the easiest and cheapest course of action, it is irresponsible for Japan to choose to do this before enough has been done to eliminate the radioactive elements from it.

Japan needs to think twice on the decision and should be transparent about how harmful the contaminated water is. It should also have discussions with its neighboring countries about how the water should be handled, so it can be done in a safe manner.

The entire world should exert pressure on Japan about this as it concerns the environmental and ecological security of all countries.