Japan Reportedly Decides to Release Treated Fukushima Water Into the Sea
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:
Japan reportedly decides to release treated Fukushima water into the sea:
Japan will release more than a million tons of treated radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea in a decades-long operation, reports said Friday, despite strong opposition from environmentalists, local fishermen and farmers. The release of the water, which has been filtered to reduce radioactivity, is likely to start in 2022 at the earliest, said national dailies the Nikkei, the Yomiuri, and other local media.
The decision ends years of debate over how to dispose of the liquid that includes water used to cool the power station after it was hit by a massive tsunami in 2011.
[...] There are around 1.23 million tons of waste water stored in tanks at the facility, according to plant operator TEPCO, which also declined to comment on the reports.
[...] Environmental activists have expressed strong opposition to the proposals, and fishermen and farmers have voiced fear that consumers will shun seafood and produce from the region.
[...] A decision has been getting increasingly urgent as space to store the water -- which also includes groundwater and rain that seeps daily into the plant -- is running out.
Most of the radioactive isotopes have been removed by an extensive filtration process -- but one remains, tritium. It can't be removed with existing technology.
[...] Tritium is only harmful to humans in very large doses, experts say. The International Atomic Energy Agency argues that properly filtered water could be diluted with seawater and then safely released into the ocean.
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