On August 24th, Japan released the residue water from Fukushima’s nuclear power plant into the ocean. Back in 2011, an earthquake heavily damaged Fukushima’s nuclear power plant, causing it to contaminate the seawater with radioactive substances. This happened because Japanese scientists injected water to plants to cool off the heat generation that caused the explosion. Of course, the residue water of this experiment became contaminated and was stored away. For the last decade, the Japanese Government has been discussing how to dispose of this residual water and settled the matter by discharging it to the sea two years ago.

The discharge became a global controversy. The contaminated water contains tritium, which is a substance that causes cancer if consumed in a heavy amount. Japanese scientists inspected the seawater after the release of residues, and the amount of tritium detected near the discharge of contaminated water exceeded the international safety standard. Japan said it was just a temporary change caused by the flow of the ocean, and there were no safety problems. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the flow of the water in the ocean will spread the contaminated water over to the Pacific Ocean. Precisely because of this, we need to pay attention as the water could change the marine ecosystem worldwide. Moreover, the polluted water has also affected seafood prices: prices began to plunge as consumption decreased significantly after the discharge of the contaminated water. This had a negative effect on local fishermen too.

However, there is a fierce debate on the pros and cons of discharging the contaminated water. The position in favor notes that tritium is purified 40 times through a lot of dilution, so the water has a low concentration of negative substances in relation to the danger standard value, emphasizing the need to use the term “purified water”, instead of “contaminated water”. They also pointed out that such low levels are difficult to have a fatal effect on the human body, and rather, it is dangerous to store contaminated water continuously.

On the other hand, the position against the discharge of contaminated water mentioned that the high level was measured in the experiment conducted after the discharge of contaminated water. Japan's claim that it is a temporary figure caused by ocean currents does not guarantee any safety. They also argued that it could be dangerous because carcinogens may accumulate in the process of consuming the seafood living in the sea where contaminated water was discharged.

Changes in the marine ecosystem and seafood market after the release of contaminated water should be examined closely for the best interest of the global community.