The amount of radioactive tritium in wastewater from Chinese nuclear plants, recorded at 13 of the nation's monitoring points in 2021, surpassed the maximum allowable annual amount of the material contained in treated water set to be released from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, according to public data.
Beijing has been opposed to Tokyo's plan to begin releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima plant into the sea and has tightened controls on seafood imports from Japan. Tokyo has not taken such measures despite the high level of tritium found in Chinese waters.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has stressed the difference between the Fukushima water and that released by nuclear plants in normal operations, saying no comparison can be drawn between the two as the former "came into direct contact with melted reactor cores."
The Qinshan nuclear plant in the eastern Zhejiang Province discharged around 218 trillion becquerels of tritium in 2021, roughly 10 times the maximum annual release set for the Fukushima water at 22 trillion becquerels, according to the data from a yearbook on the Chinese nuclear power industry.
The yearbook contains radioactive material monitoring results of water released from 13 nuclear plants at 17 points in the country.
The amount of tritium found in water from the Daya Bay and Yangjiang nuclear plants in the southern Guangdong Province was around five times the maximum annual amount for the Fukushima water, while the Fuqing plant in the southeastern Fujian Province discharged 2.4 times more tritium than the Fukushima upper limit.
Under China's national environmental protection law and related legislation, the maximum annual release of radioactive materials from nuclear plants is determined based on the size of the facilities.
The Haiyang nuclear plant in Shandong Province released 82.6 trillion becquerels of tritium in 2021, close to the upper limit set for the facility.
Before the major nuclear accident in 2011, triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan was releasing about 2.2 trillion becquerels of tritium annually, according to Japan's industry ministry.
In July this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded in a report submitted to the Japanese government that the planned Fukushima water release aligns with global safety standards and will have "a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment."
However, China has contended that the IAEA did not adequately represent the perspectives of the participating experts in their review. Consequently, China implemented comprehensive radiation testing on all seafood imports from Japan to guarantee public health and food safety.
© KYODO
21 Comments
BigP
Don’t do what we do, only do as we say! Interesting Chinese policy?!
sakurasuki
Now it's time for competition to show the world who can really pollute ocean water even more, is it China, Japan or someone else.
WiseOneIn Kansai
As usual, China has an excuse for everything except responsibility!! Yawn. . .
Samit Basu
It's not the tritium that's not the problem, but plutonium, cesium, strontium, etc.
Moonraker
But, but, but ... it's a different kind of tritium! Oh China, better to remain silent and let people think you are a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.
divinda
Wouldn't be surprised if the numbers around China spike at the end of the month or early September when the Fukushima release happens, since it would be a convenient cover story and blame-game for allowing China to dump their own radioactive waste.
Mark
""However, China has contended that the IAEA did not adequately represent the perspectives of the participating experts in their review. Consequently, China implemented comprehensive ""
And Japan would have done the same if China was releasing this water. Anyway you look at this mess it's a lose lose situation and we are screwed along with mother earth until we find a safer source of energy.
Disillusioned
Two wrongs don't make a right!
Sanjinosebleed
Two wrongs don't make a right! Make TEPCO and more importantly the TEPCO execs who caused this issue pay for the expensive option of remediation!
Sh1mon M4sada
I was in China recently, despite evidence otherwise, according to people I talked to, the government is telling Chinese citizens, the 1-3 reactor cores completely melted and breached the pressure containment vessel. I told them that's not correct but guess what, I can't get the IAEA report on my phone because it's blocked by the great firewall.
The entire country is a huge wall of misinformation, all to elevate the status of the CCP.
Sh1mon M4sada
...and is why reciprocity is the most robust foreign policy to adopt when dealing with China.
Start with SK and Japan unity to expose the air pollution that drifts east from China.
From Chinese researchers. China's air pollution has ramificatior the entire world, not just Japan and South Korea.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/07/air-pollution-linked-rise-antibiotic-resistance-imperils-human-health
Roy Sophveason
It's interesting but hardly surprising to see China's reaction when they are being called out on their hypocrisy. Of course they have to double down with a nonsensical "our waste water is good, yours is bad" argument. It underlines the fact that China's grandstanding about the waste water release has no scientific basis and is purely political in motivation.
It's also good to see that Japan is finaly capital-D Done with trying to please China. Japan went above and beyond what's necessary. They showed good faith for way too long, receiving none in return.
Roy Sophveason
In a criminal case the TEPCO executives were acquitted, twice. In a civil case, they were sentenced to pay ¥13T ... to TEPCO.
"Make TEPCO pay" makes no sense, though. The largest shareholder in TEPCO is the Japanese government. Like it or not, quite literally we are all paying for it.
Roy Sophveason
There is an extensive analysis for you to read, corraborated by no less than seven independent laboratories across the world. Spoiler: All radionuclides (except, ad nauseum, tritium) have been filtered to well below the regulation limits for sea discharge, conservatively so even.
https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/first_interlaboratory_comparison_on_the_determination_of_radionuclides_in_alps_treated_water.pdf
But sure, you could choose to buy into Chinese disinformation. Rooting for Japan to fail has a long-standing tradition in these here comment sections.
isabelle
And remember that this is official "data with Chinese characteristics"... meaning that the real figures are undoubtedly much, much higher.
Per Roy Sophveason's post, everything except Tritium is removed/filtered by ALPS. This water discharge is undergoing more scrutiny than literally any other discharge in history, and it still passes the test. If the accident had been in China, they'd still be denying it ever happened.
Seapig
@Samit Basu
Not that releasing any radioactive pollutants is good but it’s misleading half-truths like this that keep people from understanding the actual situation.
Currant systems, including those used at Fukushima can and do remove 99.99 percent of cesium etc. The tiny bit remaining is not only well below international standards but id actually below the background radiation levels.
Yes, it’s true the that plutonium, cesium, strontium, etc. would be a huge problem IF IT WERE PRESENT in the water to be released, but it’s not.
Tritium on the other hand can’t easily be removed and this is why all nuclear power plants release levels of tritium that are far too high. Some countries with a lower control level, like China, South Korea, France, Canada, have nuclear plants that releasing tritium far exceeding safe levels, but all plants release some amounts. This is certainly a good argument for non-nuclear/non-fossil fuel power plants but I researched and misleading information does nothing to educate the public!
Mr Kipling
It is not just China and anyway, Tritium is the least of your worries for stuff being dumped in the sea.
Wesley
china's double standards, lies and hypocrisy...again.
konjo4u
China says their radioactive water is safer, even though it is more radioactive? That is nuts.
Peter Neil
It will be present, but only in trace concentrations far below all international stands, then diluted again another 1,000 times before release.
Samit Basu
@konjo4u
Chinese waste water is free of plutonium, cesium, strontium, ALPS processed Fukushima radioactive waste water is not.
This is why Fukushima radioactive waste water must not be released into sea, but evaporated to ensure no heavy radioactive element is released into nature.