about 1 million tons of water
contaminated where the radiation is in
storage at Japan's tsunami wrecked
Fukushima nuclear power plant and the
amount is increasing by an average of
some 170 tons each day the Japanese
government now close to running out of
space for it announced a draft proposal
on Monday that suggests a controlled
release and controlled evaporation of
the nuclear waste water into the Pacific
Ocean and into the air the announcement
has stirred up serious concerns among
many and today we look into the impact
of Japan's seemingly life-threatening
plan with doctors hug union professor of
nuclear engineering at Seoul National
University welcome to the program great
to be on your show first of all could
you tell us what exactly nuclear waste
water is what elements does the water
consist of and how hazardous is it it is
pretty much hazardous in the sense that
it's been really dirtied by those
elements you just named them like
uranium plutonium and other than those
materials there are cesium strontium
barium xenon
you just name them even treat them they
are not just thermally hot but also very
radioactivity hot which determines they
emit or continue to emit a lot of
radiation alpha raised beta gamma
neutrons they're really hazardous to our
health if they turn out to penetrate our
body then they tend to really ionize
ourselves into ions which means we are
going to be electrified bit by bit so
it's really a killing element that we're
talking about very alarming indeed
Japan's economy and Industry ministry
made a draft proposal on Monday
suggesting what it calls a controlled
release of the nuclear waste water into
the Pacific Ocean it said the nuclear
waste water will first be diluted with
contaminated water to lower the
radioactivity concentration how do you
see this method would it be effective
enough to to lower the risks of of
radioactivity I don't think so
what is exactly controlled what does he
mean there's nothing like controlled
release because it is going to be
released anyway it's just a matter of
time and I was told they are going to
put in some kind of fresh water but how
about those polluting elements they're
still there so it's just like a word
game there's no substance in it if these
substances elements are there they turn
out to remain there for long periods of
time
for example cesium may tend to stay
there for 30 minutes 30 hours 30 days
and then 30 years after 30 years the
amount may become just half but still
half is there so it's just a neverending
story so diluting or controlling do not
have any technical mean it's just a lip
service oh it sounds plausible but it
does not going to happen because they
are there so again my question what do
they mean by control release there's
nothing like control is it's just a
release may be they're trying to just
postpone the period of time extend a
pair of time but still release is
released so in your perspective it's
physically impossible to to dilute and
actually lower the concentration of
radioactive no they're still there
it's just a matter of time if you wait
30 more years then the amount may become
just have but still half is there still
there so well until the time passed like
300 years there's no way of dilating or
a control release so the hazardous
substances will still be there even
after the dilutions hundred years at the
least now the big question is of course
how
dumping 1 million tons of nuclear waste
water would impact
Japan's closest neighbor South Korea how
long would it take to arrive to waters
off South Korea and what are some of the
expected damage on South Korean people's
health as well as the environment
surrounding South Korea of course
including marine products it's a good
question but hard to answer because it
may take time and we need to think about
the total amount to release we call this
source term it's just huge you're
talking about actually 1.4 million tons
of wastewater can imagine that's like 77
0 Olympic sized swimming post is huge
it's literally impossible to do anything
about it if they're going to release
those are amounts of water into the
Pacific Ocean then what will it be
happening it will be transported over -
probably to the west coast of the United
States Canada and Mexico it may take
three years three years but there's a
catch some of it might directly come
down to the crater region and then may
stagnate in the East China Sea and then
they'll be coming back now the problem
begins half of it might come back to
where it started from but the other half
might penetrate through Korea Strait
Korea Strait is between the Korean
Peninsula and Kyushu okay then half of
it is going to be coming in to South Sea
and East Sea that literally means that
our territorial sea R is going to be in
fact contaminated within a matter of six
months to 12 months it's just a matter
of time and then how much will be again
it's just a matter of uncertainty but
still we have to be prepared for at
least half
of the radioactive material being
transported over to east and south coast
of the Korean Peninsula the Japanese
government also suggested a controlled
evaporation of nuclear contaminated
water into the air
how safe or how not safe is this method
it's almost the same as releasing into
the ocean I think it's better
evaporation means it's just what is it I
have a question about their proposal
because evaporation is just boiling
water then all those water will be
evaporate but still the contaminated
elements tend to stay at the bottom I'm
curious about what they're going to do
about those remaining or remnant
materials down there I think they're
going to trash it
so evaporation again me it's just
nothing I lose any physical meaning to
that way of getting rid of all those
materials because it is going to be
evaporated but just water is going to be
water is pure it does not do any harm
twist the remaining elements are the
ones that are going to hurt us they are
going to be there so they're not saying
anything about those remaining items
just evaporating it seems like they're
doing something but apparently they are
doing nothing so we have to be very
careful about what they're talking about
evaporation even worse than release
water so once again japan's what japan
claims as a controlled evaporation is
again a method that has that is very
risky and that will be hazardous
not just risky but it's just it does not
have any effect it's just um doesn't
have any impact on releasing or reducing
via mouse it's just um show political
show what I'm saying is that even after
all this evaporation those elements are
going to be
remaining down there and they have to
say what they're going to do about those
remaining animals bottom at the bottom
they're not saying anything until they
say something about this then it's just
a false statement so whether it's a
releasing or evaporation either way the
dangerous radioactivity radioactive
materials will still be there exactly
the best iam that's the point now Japan
held years of discussions with experts
to find the best way to get rid of the
vast amount of nuclear waste water and
of the options discussed included
electric decomposition and underground
storage methods but Japan ruled out
those options citing technical
difficulties and costs how do you see
these two methods could these methods be
safer first of all electric
decomposition or something technical
term is electrolysis which really means
that they are going to again separate
the elements into positive and negative
ions everything is positive and negative
they are put together they're trying to
put them apart now if they're talking
about in terms of maybe thousand tons
that's doable that must or may be doable
in the lab scale but if you're talking
about 1.4 1.5 million tons permit by
next year
it's just practically undoable okay so
that might be practicable for probably
less than 1% of what's remaining there
but if you're talking about the
wholesome again it's just a um they're
just over ambitious about their approach
and scientific method it simply defies
any scientific method so far because
it's just huge second of all what was it
underground storage I think they have to
be doing something about these they have
to make some change to the geological
formation and if you know the Japan's
act
holy geological formation they're part
of the Ring of Fire
if they're not there are going to do
anything about the geological structure
they may be calling for an earthquake
it's just um unbelievable they're making
this kind of suggestion they are not
going to do that I don't think so so
it's not technically but also
politically and from the public
acceptance point of view this
underground storage is just unthinkable
it's not to opal at all so I'm really
wondering what they're are thinking
about um maybe they're going nowhere
maybe they got lost in the middle of
nowhere this may be more appropriate
expression I would say unfortunately in
your perspective what is the safest way
to do to store or dispose the nuclear
waste water thing is that they should
have caught the train before the train
had started or taken off it's already
taken off there's nothing left but
currently what they can do though is
still it's pretty late and it got pretty
much spread all over but still they need
to be doing some caving work and all
that and then they must be trying to
really contain therefore crippled
appliance inside the sarcophagus for
example it's just um like a concrete
coffin that's the only way in Europe
European countries actually helped
Ukraine government to build up the kind
of they called it containment structure
to really retain all the materials
inside that structure building and that
that what they did three years ago I
think they should be doing this that's
the last hope like containment structure
but they would need four of them not
just one that's the problem but they
still have to do that that's
probably the only way around this
problem until then control East or
evaporation are not going to help at all
it's just extending the period of time
during which we have to be really
organizing over what has been done or
what has not been done in the past at
the right time at the right place
alright thank you so much dr. Saul for
your insights tonight let's keep close
tabs on how things develop from this
point thanks for having me
