On Thursday, the Japanese government began dumping Fukushima's nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, causing widespread anxiety about radionuclides, seafood contamination, and the impact on global environment. According to a report by Chinese scientists, the pollutants will have an impact on towns around the world's coastlines years after they are released.

Currently, the Fukushima storage tanks hold around 1.34 million cubic meters of nuclear-contaminated water, which is enough to fill approximately 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Since the 2011 nuclear accident, monitoring data shows a continued rise in radioactive concentrations in Japan's port areas through January 2023.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was struck by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011, causing core meltdowns that discharged radiation, leading to a level-7 nuclear catastrophe, the worst on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.

The plant has been producing a tremendous amount of radioactive water from cooling down the nuclear fuel in the reactor buildings, which is now being held in approximately 1,000 storage tanks.

Geographically, the Kuroshio Current influences the coast of Fukushima, which, when combined with the Oyashio Current, produces the Hokkaido Fisheries, famous as the world's largest fishing area. Following that, the majority of contaminants will enter the North Pacific Current and drift eastward eventually hitting the U.S. West Coast.

Haruo Ono, a local fisherman in his 70s, claimed that his family has depended on fishing for generations and that he still goes fishing with his three kids today despite his age.

"A human's lifespan is long enough if he can live for a hundred years. For the earth, however, this is just a moment. The earth has existed for hundreds of millions of years. The sea should not be polluted as it doesn't belong to human beings. It is the place where fish live," said Ono.

Fishermen are concerned that releasing the water may reduce demand for fish from the region.

"We live here and can't leave, because we are fishermen. The sea is where we work and doesn't only belong to us. It is not a possession of Japan, but in fact shared by all human beings from all over the world. Politicians cannot make hasty decisions," Ono said.

Hideki Ishii, the owner of a Fukushima fish processing firm, said he was anxious and even desperate when he learned that the polluted water would be released, stressing that the initial tragedy at the plant had already taken a tremendous toll on the company.

"It took us ten years to recover. All efforts would have been futile if the nuclear-contaminated water was dumped into the ocean. I'm quite concerned about it. I'm afraid it'll ruin our lives," he explained.

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