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"If I had known that we would be where we are today, I should have disposed of the nuclear waste. ”

In 2019, when the Japanese government decided to dump Fukushima's nuclear waste into the sea, a Japanese official could not help but lament that this was probably their biggest regret.

However, now that the "Fukushima nuclear contamination" has occurred, is it appropriate for Japan to do so?

Is the nuclear waste problem really that simple?

Could it be that the consequences of Fukushima nuclear contamination and sea contamination are the consequences?

Clearly, this is not the case, and Japan is underestimating the ripple effects of nuclear waste that it failed to properly dispose of in the first place, and that these ripple effects could even directly affect Japan and East Asia as a whole.

What mistake did Japan make in dealing with the issue of nuclear waste, which involves risks to the global environment and human health?

1. Mistakes in the disposal of nuclear waste.

Japan's nuclear waste disposal problem can be said to have started after World War II, which in turn began with Japan's defeat in World War II.

After Japan's defeat in 1945, it lost the ability to continue fighting, and after the bombing of two atomic bombs by the United States, Japan no longer had the ability to resist, and it completely became a vassal state of the United States.

The United States wanted to build a nuclear test site on Japanese soil, but because Japan's geographical location was not suitable for conducting nuclear tests, this plan was ultimately rejected by the United States.

However, Japan, as a country that had been bombed by nuclear bombs, was very interested in nuclear energy research, so in 1954 Japan began to establish its own nuclear research site.

The nuclear research site, which was eventually built in Fukushima Prefecture, was established to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons and to promote nuclear energy to play an important role in Japan's development.

However, the establishment of this nuclear research site was a major mistake on the part of Japan.

The year 1954 was the height of the Cold War, and the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States was already very fierce, so the United States conducted a series of nuclear tests against the Soviet Union, many of which were examples of failure.

Under the influence of the Cold War, Japan was very confident in the construction of these nuclear facilities, and even considered its technology to be more advanced than that of the Soviet Union and the United States.

However, in 1954, when Japan conducted its first nuclear test, the results were far beyond the expectations of the Japanese.

In fact, Japan's nuclear test was not a large-scale test, but a small-scale test, and the purpose of the test was to test the performance of Japan's nuclear weapons.

However, the failure of this test caused a rift in the corner of self-confidence of the Japanese, who discovered that their nuclear weapons were not as good as they had imagined, not even an atomic bomb.

After Japan's failed nuclear test, Japan temporarily abandoned plans to continue nuclear testing, but its interest in nuclear energy research has not diminished in the slightest, and the Japanese still consider their nuclear research to be valuable.

As a result, Japan turned its attention to nuclear power generation, which was undoubtedly a very worthwhile direction for research at the time, because this type of power generation could be said to be very "advanced".

In the construction plan for nuclear power generation, Fukushima Prefecture has once again become a "testing ground" for Japan.

In 1971, Fukushima's first nuclear power plant, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, was officially put into operation, which was also Japan's first nuclear power plant, and the construction of this nuclear power plant once again made Japan commit a big taboo.

During the construction of the nuclear power plant, Japan discharged wastewater and nuclear waste into the sea, which was still very questioned at the time.

At that time, many people thought that Japan should bury the nuclear waste and wastewater deep instead of discharging it into the sea, but Japan did not heed these suggestions and insisted on discharging the nuclear waste into the sea.

However, not only has this practice not been questioned, on the contrary, it has been praised by the Americans, who once praised Japan's practice of discharging nuclear waste into the sea as "in accordance with international law."

In this way, Japan's self-confidence has once again been greatly strengthened, and it believes that what it is doing is right, and it has also had a good environmental effect.

As a result, Japan continued to discharge nuclear waste into the sea during the construction of other nuclear power plants, and it was in this way that Japan's nuclear waste disposal problem gradually buried hidden dangers.

Second, Japan's technology is overconfident.

Japan is not running out of other ways to deal with nuclear waste, but it has chosen the simplest method, which is to discharge nuclear waste directly into the sea.

And the reason why Japan sees this method as the best way is because it believes that its technology is the best.

This overconfidence in technology has led Japan to ignore environmental and future risks, arguing that discharging nuclear waste into the sea will have little impact on the marine environment.

In addition, the Japanese believe that after the nuclear waste is discharged into the ocean, the nuclear waste will gradually be precipitated by the minerals in the seawater due to the self-cleaning ability of the ocean, and will not have any impact on marine life.

However, this is a very wrong idea, because nuclear waste is not so easily precipitated by minerals in seawater.

Instead, it spreads with the flow of water and even re-enters the surface of the ocean under certain circumstances, which can have a devastating impact on marine life.

It wasn't until Japan suffered a nuclear accident in 2011 that it became clear how much of an impact this kind of nuclear waste dumping into the sea had on marine life, and it would continue to do so for a long time.

3. The chain reaction of nuclear waste.

Japan's reckless handling of nuclear waste is not only regretted by Japan, but also by the whole world, because improper disposal of nuclear waste can lead to huge environmental and health risks.

First of all, improper disposal of nuclear waste can lead to environmental pollution, and if nuclear waste spreads around, it is likely to pollute water, soil and air, which in turn will further affect the production of crops and livestock, thus posing a threat to the survival of mankind.

Second, mishandled nuclear waste can also lead to political instability, and if a country's nuclear waste is contaminated and the country is not able to handle it well, it is likely to lead to protests and even a large-scale anti-government movement in that country.

As a result, the country's politics will be thrown into chaos, which will become a destabilizing factor for other countries.

Third, improperly disposed nuclear waste can also trigger rifts in international cooperation, and if one country's nuclear waste contaminates a neighboring country, those countries will blame and sanction that country.

And this home can also become very confrontational because of its isolation, which can break the cooperative relationship between these countries and even lead to a war.

Fourth, if nuclear waste is not properly disposed of, it is also possible to change the military balance, after all, nuclear energy is a weapon that plays a very big role in war, and if a country's nuclear power plant is attacked, or if the nuclear waste from a nuclear power plant is stolen by another country, then the country will face the dilemma of nuclear energy shortage, and in this way, the original equilibrium will be upset.

First, nuclear waste is spreading everywhere.

Japan's practice of discharging nuclear waste into the sea has led many to believe that it is very wrong, but there are also those who believe that it does not have much impact on the environment.

These people are wrong to think that when nuclear waste is discharged into the sea, it will be adsorbed by the minerals in the seawater and will have no impact on the environment.

Because nuclear waste is a very stable radioactive material, it does not become non-radioactive because it is adsorbed by minerals in seawater, on the contrary, it spreads around with the flow of water, and nuclear waste is very radioactive.

As soon as the nuclear waste is discharged into the sea, it will have an impact on marine life, because marine life is very sensitive to radioactive materials, and once marine life is contaminated by nuclear waste, then their growth and reproduction will be greatly affected, and even cancer and other diseases.

In addition, the nuclear waste discharged into the sea will also have a genetic impact on marine organisms, which will lead to various strange phenomena in the future reproduction process of these marine organisms.

Moreover, this nuclear waste will also be carried to other places with the flow of seawater, which will affect more marine life, which is very dangerous.

Because there is a risk that this nuclear waste will resurface on the surface of the ocean in some places, and in this way, it will have a devastating impact on the surrounding ecological environment.

2. The crisis for humanity.

Not only that, but the spread of nuclear waste will also pose a threat to the survival of human beings, once the nuclear waste is brought to the sea, then it may be carried to the land through the sea breeze, thus contaminating the water and soil on the land.

In this way, humans will drink contaminated water, thus absorbing nuclear waste, and in the process of growing crops, it will also be affected by the contamination of the soil, which will pose a great threat to human survival.

There are even some nuclear wastes that will be carried into the air in the form of water vapor, thus polluting the atmosphere, so that human beings will absorb nuclear waste through breathing, so that human beings will quickly suffer from cancer and other diseases.

3. A disaster that originated in Japan.

When people suffer from diseases such as cancer, they fall into fear and anxiety, and the source of this disaster is Japan, which also has a great impact on the psychology of Japanese people.

Therefore, it would be irresponsible for Japan to recognize its mistakes and take timely measures to deal with the nuclear waste problem instead of leaving it to others.

epilogue

Japan's overconfidence in its own technology has not only caused the Japanese to make many mistakes, but also posed a great threat to the whole world.

Therefore, Japan should strengthen cooperation with the international community to jointly address the issue of nuclear waste disposal, rather than doing it alone.

At the same time, supervision and transparency should also be strengthened on the issue of nuclear waste disposal to prevent similar accidents from happening again.