On December 4, 2025, TEPCO pressed the discharge button again. This is the 17th time that 7,800 tons of nuclear sewage have flowed into the Pacific Ocean along submarine pipelines. Since the first discharge in August 2023, the total amount of water flowing into the sea has exceeded 125,000 tons - equivalent to pouring all the water from more than 50 standard swimming pools into the sea.

**Money-saving option**

TEPCO has always emphasized that "this is the only viable option," but internal documents leaked in October 2025 reveal another layer of truth. They chose to dilute it instead of building a solid-state treatment facility for the simple reason - it saves 80% of the money. This decision directly led to an exponential increase in the range of radioactive material.

What's even worse is the company's historical record. After the 2011 nuclear accident, they withheld reactor data, delaying the rescue time. In this discharge plan, TEPCO itself admitted that the concentration of strontium-90 in some of the treated water exceeded the standard, but it still continued to discharge on the grounds that it "did not affect health". The International Marine Conservation Organization directly pointed out: "The so-called 'safety standards' are just an excuse to save money."

**The Collapse of the Fisheries**

In November 2025, cesium-137 in grouper caught off the coast of Fukushima exceeded the standard by 180 times. This figure directly hit Tokyo's Tsukiji market - seafood sales plummeted by 42% in the quarter. The National Fisheries Association of Japan has protested countless times, and TEPCO has only given 85 billion yen in compensation, which is not enough to rebuild a medium-sized fishing port.

Ironically, a restaurant in Osaka also launched "nuclear-treated aquaculture tuna" in September last year, under the banner of "ALPS purification technology". The result? Consumers sued collectively. Lawyer Ichiro Yamada disclosed even more ruthless: TEPCO's internal records show that 37% of treated water in 2024 will not meet the standard at all.

**Global Rebound**

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Japanese ambassador to China on December 3 to demand an end to this unilateral action. Fishermen on Jeju Island, South Korea, launched a campaign to "refuse to buy Japanese seafood", and South Korea's imports of Japanese aquatic products directly decreased by 68%.

Simulation studies by the University of Kiel in Germany show that Fukushima nuclear sewage will spread to most of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days and reach the west coast of North America in 3 years. However, the Japanese government has not yet released complete ocean current monitoring data. Although the IAEA sent an investigation team, the 2024 report was questioned as "over-reliance on data provided by the Japanese side."

**The Unseen Price**

TEPCO will invest more than 2.3 trillion yen in treating nuclear sewage in 2025, but the nuclear power restart plan has stalled due to public opposition, and the power gap has widened. Liberal Democratic Party secretary-general Toshimitsu Motegi is still saying that "the discharge of the sea is Japan's contribution to global nuclear energy security", but a march of 10,000 people broke out in Namie Town, Fukushima Prefecture in October last year, holding signs saying "Give me back the clean sea", demanding the closure of nuclear power plants and accountability of TEPCO executives.

**The Real Threat**

TEPCO claims that the tritium concentration has been diluted to 1,500 becquerels per liter, which is lower than the international standard. However, scientists point out that the ALPS system cannot get rid of carbon-14 and iodine-129, which have half-lives of 5,730 years and 15.7 million years respectively.

A team from the University of Hawaii detected tritium at a depth of 500 meters in the North Pacific Ocean in August last year, two years earlier than expected. Radioactive material in plankton begins to accumulate and pass up the food chain. Tohoku University professor Yuji Sato warned: "In another ten years, Fukushima nuclear sewage may become a chronic poison in the world's oceans."

The chain reaction of the ecological chain has emerged. In July 2025, a large number of deformed starfish appeared in the waters of the Russian Far East, and the autopsy found that the cesium content in the body exceeded the standard by 20 times. According to the International Whaling Commission, the number of sperm whales off the coast of Japan has decreased by 35% compared to 2011, which may be related to food shortages caused by nuclear pollution.

**Gambling Without End**

The decisions of the Japanese government and TEPCO are essentially a high-stakes gamble. They bet that the international community will not really counterattack, that the ocean can digest these pollutions on its own, and that the people's memory will fade over time.

But the decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear power plant will take another 30 years, and the discharge of nuclear sewage may continue until the middle of this century - a gamble with no end, only accumulated risks.

When TEPCO uses "cost control" to package potential safety hazards, and when politicians use "national security" to cover up decision-making mistakes, mankind is paying the price for this short-sightedness. The environmental protection organization "Blue Peace" made it clear: "What we are fighting is not nuclear sewage, but human arrogance towards nature."