Research on the Transboundary Environmental Damage Caused by the Discharge of Nuclear Wastewater in Japan

Neighboring nations voiced severe protests when Japan unilaterally declared on August 23, 2023, that it intended to release radioactive effluent stockpiled since the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 into the ocean. Japan clearly breaches international law by acting in a way that is contrary to its duties for reasonable risk prevention, notification, and transboundary environmental impact assessment. In the international community, the question of transboundary injury accountability and compensation has long been of concern. International conventions addressing transboundary pollution are mostly framework agreements with soft law provisions, which means that their substantive impact on contracting parties' behavior is minimal. This article examines the national and personal obligations that the party in control of this nuclear wastewater discharge should have by combining concepts of international law, including the principle of attribution, state sovereignty, and international environmental protection. It examines the characteristics of international transboundary damage liability and compensation schemes from the standpoint of governments taking on international environmental responsibility.