Japan Is Releasing Wastewater Into the Pacific: What to Know About Radioactivity and Seafood

Early afternoon local time on Thursday, after years of questions and criticisms directed at the plan, Japan has begun the controversial release into the Pacific Ocean of water previously used to cool the reactors at the defunct Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant after they were damaged in 2011 by a massive earthquake and tsunami. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The 1.3 million metric tons of treated wastewater—enough to fill more than 500 Olympic-size swimming pools—are currently stored in more than 1,000 tanks at the site of the power plant, and it is expected to take up to four decades to finish emptying all of it into the sea. The plant manager Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the Japanese government, and international agencies have conducted multiple assessments of the filtering process to decontaminate the water, and they have declared the plan to be safe according to scientific standards, but some neighboring nations, environmental advocates, and those involved in the seafood industry have starkly opposed the plan, claiming that the data is neither sufficient nor conclusive to ensure the water will be harmless. The governments of China and Hong Kong have already taken measures to ban fish, sea salt, and seaweed imports from Japan, and South Koreans, despite assurances from their own government, have begun shunning seafood from Japan amid concerns about radioactivity risks. The situation—with strong feelings expressed o...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Japan Source Type: news