While the impacts of the proposed Fukushima nuclear contaminated water release on human health and marine environment remain incalculable and unforeseeable, the UNCLOS, nuclear safety conventions and customary international law have provided for a comprehensive legal framework that requires the State of origin to take all necessary measures to prevent the potentially harmful consequences and cooperate with the States likely to be affected. This article sheds light on the central role of cooperation in dealing with the release, and suggests that cooperation should be the preferred policy for all States concerned at this stage, directly or through competent international organizations, to utterly avoid the release together or prevent its potential transboundary harm and rebuild trust with the public. Furthermore, it elucidates that the inter-State cooperation shall not be diluted or even overridden by Japan’s current cooperation with the IAEA, as the two types of cooperation are related but functionally different with respect to State responsibilities for the release.

虽然拟议的福岛核污染水排放对人类健康和海洋环境的影响仍然无法估量和不可预见，但《联合国海洋法公约》、核安全公约和习惯国际法规定了一个全面的法律框架，要求来源国采取一切必要措施以防止潜在的有害后果并与可能受到影响的国家合作。这篇文章阐明了合作在处理释放方面的核心作用，并建议合作应成为现阶段所有有关国家直接或通过主管国际组织的首选政策，以彻底避免共同释放或防止其潜在跨界损害和重建与公众的信任。此外，