South Koreans Protest Against Fukushima Nuclear Water Release

On Saturday, thousands of South Koreans marched in Seoul to protest Japan's plans to dump radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

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Protesters are concerned about the risks to food security and marine ecosystems that the release of nuclear wastewater could cause as early as late August.

Previously, on Friday, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) found leaks in a hose used at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to transfer nuclear-contaminated wastewater.

TEPCO conducted a probe after higher-than-usual levels of radioactive material were detected in rainwater in the dike around a storage tank.

An inspection found that some water had leaked from cracks of about four centimeters on a hose being used for transferring radioactive wastewater at the time, the report said.

As the hose was used to transfer radioactive wastewater from another tank, TEPCO analyzed water in the dike around the tank and detected up to 67,000 becquerels of tritium per liter, which exceeded 60,000 becquerels, the standard set by the Japanese government for releasing tritium into the environment.

TEPCO said that someone caused the cracks with a cutter blade while removing the packaging around the hose after it was delivered, adding that the water that leaked remained inside the barrier. 

The leak would not affect the plan to discharge the radioactive wastewater from the plant into the ocean.

Despite strong opposition from neighboring and Pacific island countries, as well as local fishermen over the irreversible impacts on the marine environment and public health, the Japanese government and TEPCO have been pushing for release of the radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant hit by a massive earthquake in 2011.