Study On Legal Aspects Of Nuclear Contaminated Water Discharge In Japan Under The Precautionary Principle

With the progress of science and technology,people have created more material and spiritual wealth while also causing greater environmental pollution and triggering greater environmental risks.However,due to the level of scientific and technological development,people are often unable to accurately predict and judge the causes of environmental risks and the ways and scope of their spread.In the process,environmental risk begins to take on the character of "scientific uncertainty",which means,the scientific evidence currently available cannot prove an absolute causation within risk and harm.But if such risks are transformed into actual environmental pollution,the earth’s ecosystem will not be able to recover and will cause serious or irreversible damage to human health and development.While traditional environmental protection concepts and measures are aimed at deterministic environmental risks,in order to deal with such uncertain environmental risks,precautionary principle came into being.In April 2021,Japan announced its decision to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into the sea two years later.Although Japan has indicated that it will treat and then discharge nuclear contaminated water,there is still scientific uncertainty about what damage will be caused by such treated nuclear contaminated water.This "coincides" with the precautionary principle.Through introducing the precautionary principle,which originated in German domestic environmental law,was formally proposed in the field of international law in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992,and has since been gradually incorporated into many international conventions and declarations.The areas covered also range from general environmental protection to marine protection,GMOs and the transfer of harmful substances.From the various formulations of the precautionary principle,its core elements should include: the uncertain with risk,the irreversible or potential damage and need to take precaution measures.When the first two elements are met,States are obliged to take precaution measures to avoid or reduce harm.By analyzing the risk of Japan’s nuclear sewage discharge,which Japan chooses to dispose of by discharging nuclear contaminated water into the sea,considering the huge amount of nuclear contaminated water,the discharge time may last for more than thirty years,and the mobility of seawater,contaminated water will not only affect Japan’s coastal waters,but also adversely affect its neighboring countries and the global marine environment.This means that Japan’s nuclear effluent discharge is not only a matter of Japanese domestic law,but also of international law.Before the actual discharge of nuclear contaminated water,Japan shall comply with the precautionary principle and fulfill its risk precaution obligations.The precautionary principle works in practice,mainly through specific risk precaution measures,such as prior notification,exchange of environmental information and environmental impact assessment measures.In Chapter 2,analyzing the legal sources and specific contents of the obligation to notify and consult on prior notification and information exchange,then proposes that Japan should earnestly fulfill its obligation of prior notification and information exchange and consultation based on Japan’s current series of actions to promote the discharge of nuclear contaminated water.Chapter 3 analyzes the dual sources and specific contents of Japan’s performance of environmental impact assessment obligations,and argues that Japan should clarify the time requirements for environmental impact assessment,complete the content of environmental impact assessment,and add analysis of alternatives.China and Japan share the same water,and once the discharge of nuclear contaminated water causes pollution to the marine environment,China will bear the brunt of it.In view of this,Chapter 4 proposes China’s response to Japan’s nuclear contaminate water discharge.From the perspective of prior risk precaution,China should urge Japan to fulfill its international environmental law obligations,strengthen marine environmental monitoring and research,and suggest the International Atomic Energy Agency to harmonize nuclear effluent discharge standards as soon as possible.From the perspective of marine environmental protection in the mid-term,we should jointly conduct environmental monitoring in neighboring countries that may be affected,and strengthen the continuous investigation and information exchange among multiple agencies in the process of nuclear contaminated water discharge.From the perspective of post-dispute settlement,once the nuclear contaminated water causes damage to our marine environment,Japan can be held responsible for its insistence on discharging nuclear contaminated water through negotiation,international arbitration and international litigation.