China urges Japan to act responsibly for marine environment, people's life, health

The planned discharge of water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the ocean was focused more on saving costs than safeguarding the marine environment, China said on Thursday.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a routine press briefing in Beijing.

“First, Japan focuses more on saving costs instead of safeguarding the marine environment and protecting people’s life and health,” Wang said. “On the disposal of nuclear-contaminated water, there are options including long-term storage, hydrogen release, geosphere injection, underground burial and vapor release.

“Japan has chosen the discharge plan with the minimum cost among all the options, shifting the risks of nuclear contamination to the rest of the world.”

Prioritizing money over health was “doomed to be opposed by the international community,” Wang said.

“Second, Japan did not have full consultation with the international community especially with stakeholders,” he said. “In April 2021, the Japanese government unilaterally announced that it will discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, and it officially approved the discharge plan in July of 2022 in disregard of strong opposition from the international community especially from neighboring countries and other stakeholders and declared multiple times that it will not postpone the implementation of the plan.

“All of this fully reveals the selfishness and arrogance of Japan.”

The discharge plan was preconceived and the request for an International Atomic Energy Agency assessment was “nothing but a charade,” the ministry spokesperson said.

“Third, the discharge plan is a gamble with no precedent and it is full of uncertainties,” Wang said. “Japan’s discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water will last as long as 30 years or even longer.

“According to data released by Japan, nearly 70 percent of Advanced Liquid Processing System-treated nuclear-contaminated water failed to meet the discharge standards and the efficiency and reliability of the system would be weakened due to corrosion and aging of the treatment equipment when put into long-term operation.”

In light of these uncertainties, the international community had every reason to express concerns and disapproval, he said.

“We urge Japan to act responsibly for the marine environment and people’s life and health, stop pushing through the ocean discharge plan and imposing unpredictable risks on the international community,” the ministry spokesperson said.