Japan dumps low-level radioactive water into sea
Tsunami survivers queue for food handouts at a cultural centre hall in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture yesterday.Photo: AFP
Japan yesterday started to dump more than 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific as part of emergency operations to stabilise its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The last-resort measure came after the Bank of Japan said business confidence had plummeted since the earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, plunging the country into its worst crisis since World War II.
The UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano, meanwhile, said that the three-week-old Fukushima emergency, which Japan has predicted may last for months, meant an end to a "business as usual" approach to nuclear power.
His comments appeared borne out when Japan signalled it may weaken its ambitious greenhouse gas cut targets, which are based on a continued heavy reliance on low-carbon atomic power, in light of the disaster.
Japan has battled to prevent full reactor meltdowns at the tsunami-hit plant and poured thousands of tons of water onto overheating fuel rods, a stop-gap measure that has created highly radioactive run-off.
To free up storage space for that run-off -- which has hampered crucial repair work and leaked into the Pacific -- operator the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said it would have to get rid of less toxic water.
It insisted the release of the water -- the equivalent of more than four Olympic sized swimming pools -- would not harm marine life or seafood safety.
But a Tepco official fought back tears when he announced the step, saying: "We have already caused such pain and nuisance to local residents. We cannot express how sorry we are to have to impose another burden."
Prime Minister Naoto Kan's top spokesman, Yukio Edano, said in a televised press conference: "We have no choice but to release water tainted with radioactive materials into the ocean as a safety measure."
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