Ejercicio A1 - Open questions · Inglés PAU Valencia Extraordinaria 2023

TEXT A/TEXTO A

FUKUSHIMA WATER

Japan has decided to begin the release of a million tonnes of water from stricken Fukushima nuclear plant almost 12 years after a magnitude-9 earthquake triggered a huge tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people along Japan’s north-east coast.

The water will be gradually discharged into the Pacific Ocean via a tunnel after being treated and diluted. The plan’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), has said its water treatment technology can remove all radioactive materials from water except tritium, which it says is harmless in small amounts. The International Atomic Energy Agency has also pointed out that nuclear plants around the world use a similar process to dispose of wastewater containing low-level concentrations of tritium and other radionuclides.

South Korea and China have voiced concern about the discharge, while the Pacific Islands Forum has said recently that Japan “should hold off on any such release until we are certain about the implications of this proposal on the environment and on human health, especially recognising that the majority of our Pacific peoples are coastal peoples, and that the ocean continues to be an integral part of their subsistence living.”

The South Korean government, which has yet to lift its ban on Fukushima seafood, has said that releasing the water would pose a “grave threat” to marine life. Fishing unions in the area oppose the release, warning it would cause alarm among consumers and derail more than a decade of efforts to reassure the public that Fukushima seafood is safe to eat.

Adapted from an article by Justin McCurry, The Guardian, 13-1-2023

A1. Answer the following questions using your own words but taking into account the information in the text. (2 points: 1 point each)

a.

How will the release be done?

b.

Why are fishing unions against the release?