Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumJapan Wants to Dump Nuclear Plant's Tainted Water. Fishermen Fear the Worst.
Japan Wants to Dump Nuclear Plants Tainted Water. Fishermen Fear the Worst.
By Motoko Rich and Makiko Inoue
Dec. 23, 2019 NY Times
Prime Minister Shinzo Abes cabinet and the Tokyo Electric Power Company the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, where a triple meltdown led to the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl must decide what to do with more than one million tons of contaminated water stored in about 1,000 giant tanks on the plant site.
...
Until last year, Tepco indicated that with the vast majority of the water, all but one type of radioactive material tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that experts say poses a relatively low risk to human health had been removed to levels deemed safe for discharge under Japanese government standards.
But last summer, the power company acknowledged that only about a fifth of the stored water had been effectively treated.
Last month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry briefed reporters and diplomats about the water stored in Fukushima. More than three-quarters of it, the ministry said, still contains radioactive material other than tritium and at higher levels than the government considers safe for human health.
more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/world/asia/japan-fukushima-nuclear-water.html?auth=login-google
OhNo-Really
(3,985 posts)It's no surprise that this is happening. The Fukishima plants have been flooded with water to keep them cool for over two years now. It seems logical that at some point saturated soils would cause the contaminated water to spread.
Have these people NEVER heard of a cofferdam?
What are the implications if these contaminated waters enter the sea/Pacific Ocean?
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2013/7/9/1222313/-Bad-News-Fukishima-Contaminated-Waters-heading-towards-the-sea
Everyday, 24/7 Fukishima delivers nuclear pollution into the sea & atmosphere. No attemp to put a bandaid on this horrific epongoing event 🤯
Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)They've got their "ice dam" to divert the underground flow around the plant, but I don't believe it does much otherwise.
Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)And then there's the "other" contaminated water that has the heavier unstable isotopes...
hunter
(38,327 posts)Plenty of toxins with a half-life of FOREVER!
Not to mention greenhouse gasses.
Fukushima is a big expensive mess to clean up, but it's fossil fuels and human population growth that will destroy whatever is left of earth's natural environment.