![]() ![]() The Japanese government also claims that nearly all the radioactive materials will be removed from the wastewater using the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) with only tritium remaining before it is released into the Pacific. For example, the Japanese government has said, that according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the global nuclear industry and some scientists, there is nothing to worry about the effects of the radioactive wastewater. Many myths and untruths have been spread about the nuclear-contaminated water. The operator of the wrecked plant began tests on Monday of newly constructed facilities for discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the sea. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Japan has decided to start discharging radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean very soon. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. And all this week, she'll be bringing us her reporting from Fukushima, Japan.Ĭopyright © 2020 NPR. She was the NPR Above the Fray fellow this year. I think Fukushima is just one example of that.ĬHANG: That is NPR's Kat Lonsdorf. And it's important that we understand what those decisions entail and what the risks are. You know, we're all going to have to make some tough decisions about the best ways to power the planet going forward. It's not the right direction to go for reducing greenhouse gases.Īnd I think a lot of the tensions that are playing out in Japan right now in terms of power and the real costs of energy are things that the entire world is grappling with and will be even more so as climate change becomes a bigger and bigger threat. They've been importing a lot of coal and natural gas to make up the difference, which, you know, has climate scientists worried. So Japan is facing a real energy conundrum. And now only 9 of its 54 nuclear reactors are back online. I mean, Japan got nearly a third of its energy from nuclear power before this disaster. They just don't trust that it's safe, and they think the risks are too great. A lot of people in Japan are just against nuclear power now. One of my overwhelming takeaways during my time there was just how resilient people are, the people who, you know, told me that they wanted to bring joy back to the area because it was really the only way to start a community there again.ĬHANG: Well, I am curious - how does Japan view nuclear power now? I mean, has what happened in Fukushima shifted people's views on it? But I want to say it's not just doom and gloom there. And he said he's just too old to restart life somewhere else. LONSDORF: He lived in several temporary shelters for years until he could finally get back here. So this is the closest I could get to home. It's rotting behind gates, with wild animals running through it. MAASATO SAKI: (Through interpreter) I can't go back to my old house. But he grew up in this part of Fukushima. ![]() And he's living in this new house, not his old home. I met one man, Maasato Saki, in this planned community of new houses that's been built for people in one of these towns that's reopened. They're just less concerned about the long-term effects of radiation. LONSDORF: It's mostly elderly people, to be honest, basically to live out their final days. It is not the same place that people left.ĬHANG: Well, given all these concerns, I mean, who are the people coming back? So plants are overgrowing everything, and there's wild boar running in the street. And also, nature has taken over the space 'cause people were gone for years. And if you peek through those gates, you see just a lot of crumbling buildings and rotting houses. And there are still accordion gates up everywhere to keep the public out of the areas where the radiation levels are still high. Very few people have come back - less than 15%, and that's probably generous. And the Japanese government has poured billions of dollars into cleanup there and started to reopen some towns. LONSDORF: Well, life has returned there, to some extent. Can you just tell us - what does life look like now in the areas that were affected? And she joins us now to tell us what she found.ĬHANG: So it has been almost 10 years since this earthquake, this deadly tsunami and this nuclear disaster hit Japan all at once. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf went to Japan earlier this year to see how that recovery is going. It took days for the damage to trigger multiple explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, sending radioactive material into the air and forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate their homes. It took less than one hour for the tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011 to reach shore. ![]()
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