Fukushima Wastewater Release Sparks Wave of Misinformation in China

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Fukushima's Water Release: What We Know

Japan has announced plans to release wastewater from the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant into the ocean starting [this past] Thursday. Here is what we know about the release, how the water has been treated and concerns around the safety of the exercise.

Around 100,000 liters (26,500 gallons) of contaminated water-from cooling the crippled plant's reactors as well as groundwater and rain seeping in-is collected at the site in northeast Japan every day. Some 1.34 million tons-equivalent to almost 540 Olympic pools-are now stored in around a thousand steel containers at the seaside site, and now there is no more space, authorities say.

Japan decided in 2021, after years of discussion, that it would release at most around 500,000 liters per day into the sea via a pipe one kilometer (0.6 miles) long. Plant operator TEPCO says that a special filtering system called ALPS has removed all radioactive elements-including caesium and strontium-except tritium.

TEPCO has said it has diluted the water to reduce radioactivity levels to 1,500 becquerels per liter (Bq/L), far below the national safety standard of 60,000 Bq/L.

Tony Hooker, nuclear expert from the University of Adelaide, said that the level of tritium is well below the World Health Organization drinking water limit of 10,000 Bq/L. "Tritium is regularly released from nuclear power facilities into waterways worldwide," Hooker told AFP. "For decades (there have been) no evidential detrimental environmental or health effects," he said.

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