The government of Japan recently made public a very worrying situation that could lead to catastrophic events not only in the Asian country, but in the world.

According to a report published on British online newspaper The Daily Mail, Japan will “flood” the Pacific Ocean with “tons of radioactive water”.

“Japan is poised to flood the Pacific Ocean with one million tons of radioactive water contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear plant”, wrote journalist Harry Petit, the author of the report. “Storage space at the abandoned facility is running dangerously low as officials race to secure the nearly 160 tons of contaminated water produced at the plant per day”, he added.

One of the members of TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company, owner of the Fukushima facilities), Akira Ono, said in an interview that “'it is impossible to continue to store [treated water] forever”.

Interviewed by Japan News Agency, an unnamed official declared that “in order to advance the decommissioning, the number of tanks should be decreased at an early date”.

Since 2011, the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant has been leaking small amounts of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. According to the experts, this water could eventually reach the US west coast.

“Groundwater continues to enter the leaking reactor buildings, producing around 160 tons of radioactive water per day that must be collected and safely stored. While most contaminants can be removed through purification devices, tritium - a radioactive isotope of hydrogen - cannot be removed for technical reasons”, informs The Daily Mail. “Storage tanks at Fukushima currently have a capacity of around 1.13 million tons, with about 80 per cent - 1.13 million tons - of space designated for treated water. Space for tanks has been expanded by clearing forest and debris, leaving around 230,000 square metres (2.4 million sq ft) of space, but there is now almost none left”, it adds.

Other alternatives have been discussed (like, for example, burying the waste), but the release of radioactive water is winning the race.

Draw your own conclusions…

For more information: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5753411/Japan-poised-flood-Pacific-one-million-tons-radioactive-water-Fukushima.html