Japan’s Toxic Nuclear Action |
Japan’s Toxic Nuclear Action
Disregarding environmental concerns demonstrates Japan’s lack of reverence for Mother Nature and the anthropocentric mindset of the Japanese state
So far there have been 17 such discharges, with the cumulative amount at an estimated 130,000 tons.
This is an alarming incident that highlights Tokyo’s utter disregard for global nuclear safety norms regarding discharges as well as its contempt for the civilian nuclear legal regime of the world.
Impact on the Environment
Despite its growing popularity, nuclear energy remains a double-edged sword. It becomes the source of radioactive pollution, which involves the discharge of protons (alpha particles), electrons (beta particles), and gamma rays (short-wave radioactive waves). However, what is a key concern in this context is the release of anthropogenic Tritium — an isotope of hydrogen that is generally used in the production of thermonuclear bombs? The presence of atomic radiation in such contaminated water can lead to the deaths of scores of organisms.
For the marine environment of Japanese sea bodies, the situation is all the more alarming. Multiple forms of negative externalities emanate from the discharge of this toxic water. First, the radioactive water can lead to bioaccumulation and biomagnification. The former occurs when a marine organism devours a radioactive substance faster than it can excrete it. Bioaccumulation leads to biomagnification, which is the increase in the toxicity levels of an organism at each successive trophic level. For instance, microscopic organisms in the sea, such as phytoplankton and zooplankton, when eaten by small fishes, are absorbing the radioactive organisms. This cycle of consumption continues, resulting in the organisms that occupy the top positions in the marine food web possessing the highest levels of nuclear toxicity.
Ionizing radiation, which involves radioactive particles that have high penetrative power, can adversely alter the anatomical composition of an organism in a multitude of ways. First, it can cause mutation in the DNA strands of marine organisms, resulting in the development of abnormalities in larvae and juvenile organisms that are far more sensitive to such changes than adult marine creatures. Second, it can become the cause behind the growth of oxidative reaction in species, damaging their tissues and undermining the strength of their immune systems. Thirdly, the energy of such marine organisms, which would otherwise have been spent in facilitating growth, is diverted to undertake a repair of damaged tissues and adapt to changing environmental conditions; this phenomenon is called Metabolic Cost of Self-Maintenance (MCSM).
Different species of organisms may experience varied effects. The radionuclides of particles like Plutonium or Thorium may bind themselves to benthic organisms like crabs, worms, and mollusks that may face higher exposure in comparison to other organisms. More mobile species may experience ‘streams’ of discharge, leading to acute exposure. As mentioned earlier, it leads to bioaccumulation and biomagnification for marine organisms.
The discharge of this radioactive water can prove especially lethal to the coastal communities near the nuclear power plant. The marine ecosystem near the affected coastal areas will not only be adversely affected for decades to come but may also see an increase in the non-communicable diseases that affect the local populations who consume such contaminated marine food. This can spark a Minamata disease like disaster.
What’s all the more concerning is that, given the fact that Japan is facing a demographic winter in recent years, the health risk to elderly populations in the coastal areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant increases manifold, not only putting in peril precious lives but also increasing the health expenditure of the Japanese government, serving in the process as a quintessential own goal.
This incident, therefore, may set a bad precedent for other stakeholders in the global civilian nuclear order, thereby causing them to flout global safety norms with impunity. Therefore, it is high time the government of Japan made amends and pulled back its erroneous policies.
Pranay Kumar Shome, a research analyst who is a PhD candidate at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar, India
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