Security News > 2023 > August > Hacktivists attack Japanese government over Fukushima wastewater release
Entities using the name and iconography of Anonymous claim to have conducted cyberprotests against the Japanese government for actions related to the release of wastewater from the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant.
In an operation dubbed "Tango Down", The Anonymous Italia Collective claims to have attacked 21 government and other websites associated with the decision to release wastewater from the Fukushima facility, which in 2011 infamously experienced damage to three reactor cores after an earthquake and tsunami disabled safety systems.
The water is present because the Fukushima plant creates around 100 cubic meters of wastewater per day the keep the reactor cool.
The waters are treated with an advanced liquid-processing system that the org responsible for managing the nuclear power plan, Tokyo Electric Power Company, says removes 62 of the 64 radionuclides, leaving just carbon-14 and tritium behind.
However safe the water seems to be, the EUTNAIOA quotes nuclear engineer Hiroaki Koide and points out that "Diluting simply means spreading pollution over a large area," putting sea life and those who consume it, in danger.
According to the hacktivists, the Japanese government and TEPCO made their decision to release radioactive waters into the ocean "Without adequately involving local communities and appropriate international public debate."