Japan to start releasing Fukushima water into sea in 2 years
Tokyo: Japan's government decided Tuesday to start releasing massive amounts of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years an option fiercely opposed by local fishermen and residents.
The decision, long speculated but delayed for years due to safety concerns and protests, came at a meeting of Cabinet ministers who endorsed the ocean release as the best option.
The accumulating water has been stored in tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant since 2011, when a massive earthquake and tsunami damaged its reactors and their cooling water became contaminated and began leaking.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., says its storage capacity will be full late next year.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the ocean release was the "most realistic" option and that disposing the water is "unavoidable" for the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant, which is expected to take decades.
TEPCO and government officials say tritium, which is not harmful in small amounts, cannot be removed from the water, but all other selected radionuclides can be reduced to levels allowed for release. Some scientists say the long-term impact on marine life from low-dose exposure to such large volumes of water is unknown.
Under the basic plan adopted by the ministers, TEPCO will start releasing the water in about two years after building a facility under the regulatory authority's safety requirements. It said the disposal of the water cannot be postponed further and is necessary to improve the environment surrounding the plant so residents can live there safely.
TEPCO says its water storage capacity of 1.37 million tons will be full around the fall of 2022. Also, the area now filled with storage tanks will have to be freed up for building new facilities that will be needed for removing melted fuel debris from inside the reactors, a process expected to start in coming years.
In the decade since the tsunami disaster, water meant to cool the nuclear material has constantly escaped from the damaged primary containment vessels into the basements of the reactor buildings.
To make up for the loss, more water has been pumped into the reactors to continue to cool the melted fuel. Water is also pumped out and treated, part of which is recycled as cooling water, and the remainder stored in 1,020 tanks now holding 1.25 million tons of radioactive water.
Those tanks that occupy a large space at the plant complex interfere with the safe and steady progress of the decommissioning, Economy and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said. The tanks also could be damaged and leak in case of another powerful earthquake or tsunami, the report said.
Releasing the water to the ocean was described as the most realistic method by a government panel that for nearly seven years had discussed how to dispose of the water without further harming Fukushima's image, fisheries and other businesses. The report it prepared last year mentioned evaporation as a less desirable option.
About 70 per cent of the water in the tanks exceeds allowable discharge limits for contamination but will be filtered again and diluted with seawater before it is released, the report says. According to a preliminary estimate, gradual releases of water will take about 30 years but will be completed before the plant is fully decommissioned.
Japan will abide by international rules for a release, obtain support from the International Atomic Energy Agency and others, and ensure disclosure of data and transparency to gain understanding of the international community, the report said.
China and South Korea have raised serious concern about the discharge of the water and its potential impact.
The government has said it will do the utmost to support local fisheries, and the report said TEPCO would compensate for damages if they occur despite those efforts.
Kajiyama is set to visit Fukushima on Tuesday afternoon to meet with local town and fisheries officials to explain the decision. He said he will continue to make efforts to gain their understanding over the next two years.
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War Far Away, Pain Right At Your Door
There is a war burning in West Asia — far from India's borders, far from our daily worries. But here is something nobody is telling you clearly — that war is quietly walking towards your kitchen, your house, your farm, and your factory. You may not see it coming. But you will feel it.
Let us talk simply, the way one neighbour explains to another.
West Asia — the region that includes countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran — is not just the world's petrol pump. It is also a massive warehouse of raw materials that India depends on heavily. India bought goods worth nearly ₹8.3 lakh crore from this region in 2025 alone. That is not a small number. That is the foundation of many things you use every single day.
Now, missile and drone attacks are hitting energy facilities in the Gulf. Ships are scared to sail. The Strait of Hormuz — a narrow sea passage through which a huge chunk of the world's oil and gas travels — is under serious threat. If that route closes, the impact will not just stop at petrol prices. It will go much deeper.
Your home could become costlier to build.
India gets 68% of its limestone from West Asia. Limestone is the main ingredient in cement. No cement, no construction. And even if cement is available, its price will shoot up. Gypsum — which is used for plastering your walls, making false ceilings, and giving your home that smooth finish — also comes 62% from the same region. If ships stop, your dream home project either stops or burns a bigger hole in your pocket.
Your food could become expensive too.
India imports about 65% of its sulphur from West Asia. Sulphur may not be something people notice in daily life, but it is used to make sulphuric acid, which is essential for producing phosphate fertilisers. Fertilisers feed our crops, and crops feed us. If sulphur supply is disrupted for a month or more, production of phosphate fertilisers in India could be affected.
At the same time, if LNG or sulphur supplies are disrupted for a month or more, India’s overall fertiliser production — including urea and phosphate fertilisers — could face disruptions, potentially affecting farmers in the coming season.
Less urea means farmers may struggle during the next sowing season. When farmers struggle, food production can suffer. And when food production falls, food prices rise — something households, especially those on tight budgets, feel immediately.
The steel in your city's roads and bridges is also at risk.
India gets nearly 59% of its Direct Reduced Iron — a key raw material to make steel — from West Asia. Steel is everywhere. It is in the beams of buildings under construction, in the infrastructure projects your city is waiting for, in the auto parts and machinery. Industry people are already saying that while alternative sources exist for materials like limestone and DRI, the real killer is the rising and unstable price of oil and gas. Most steel plants run on LPG and LNG. When gas prices go up, the cost of making steel goes up, and ultimately, that cost passes on to you.
Even the shine on your jewellery is at risk.
India's diamond cutting and polishing industry — which employs lakhs of workers, mostly in Gujarat — gets more than 40% of its rough diamonds from West Asia. If conflict disrupts that trade, those workers feel the pinch first. Jobs slow down. Incomes fall.
So what is being done?
India is already adjusting. Refiners are buying more oil from Russia at discounted prices. Fertiliser companies are looking at Southeast Asia for sulphur. Limestone can potentially come from Thailand or Vietnam. But these alternatives take time, cost more to ship, and cannot replace West Asia overnight.
The fertiliser sector has some breathing room for now since it is currently the off-season for farming. But experts are clearly warning — if disruption continues beyond one month, the next crop season will feel the squeeze. That means the farmer in Punjab, the vegetable grower in Maharashtra, the paddy cultivator in Andhra — all of them could face higher input costs with no guarantee of better prices for their produce.
There is a quiet truth here that needs to be said plainly. Wars do not stay in the places they start. They travel through trade routes, through shipping lanes, through price tags in your local market. This one is no different.
Every brick that costs more, every bag of fertiliser that gets delayed, every power bill that climbs higher — these are not just economic numbers. These are real burdens on real families who are already managing tight budgets, rising expenses, and uncertain futures.
The war may be far away. But its shadow is already falling on us — slowly, silently, and surely.
(Girish Linganna is an award-winning science communicator and a Defence, Aerospace & Geopolitical Analyst. He is the Managing Director of ADD Engineering Components India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany.)
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or position of the publication, its editors, or its management. The publication is not responsible for the accuracy of any information, statements, or opinions presented in this piece.
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