Table of Contents
How is water pollution caused in Japan?
Japan still faces coastal water pollution caused by petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, dioxins and dibenzofurans, and the integrated circuit industry (trichloroethylene, etc.), and many semi-enclosed estuaries remain severely polluted.
Is there nuclear waste in the ocean?
Although no high-level radioactive waste (HLW) has been disposed of into the sea, variable amounts of packaged low-level radioactive waste (LLW) have been dumped at more than 50 sites in the northern part of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
How are radioactive materials discharged into the sea?
Certainly radiation can enter the food chain though plankton and kelp and then go on to contaminate fish. Radioactive caesium and plutonium has already been found in seals and porpoises in the Irish Sea. This natural disaster caused thousands of tons of radioactive water to be released into the Pacific Ocean.
How did nuclear waste end up in the Pacific Ocean?
Two varieties of above-ground water tanks are seen at the back, and the workers are working in an underground storage pool. Radioactive waste water has been discharged into the Pacific Ocean since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, triggered by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011 in Japan.
Why is Japan releasing wastewater from nuclear power plants?
The wastewater is from the Fukushima plant, the site of a nuclear disaster almost a decade ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) backed the Japanese government’s plan to dispose of the water, saying the plan meets the global standard of practice in the nuclear industry, and releasing wastewater from nuclear power plants is commonplace.
When will Tokyo’s nuclear power plant run out of space?
It is then kept in huge tanks, but the plant’s operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TepCo) is running out of space, with these tanks expected to fill up by 2022. About 1.3 million tonnes of radioactive water – or enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools – are currently stored in these tanks, according to a Reuters report.
What’s the best way to get rid of nuclear waste?
The options include discharging the water into the sea or evaporating it into the air. The IAEA said both options were used by operating nuclear plants. Conca also said in the Forbes article, “Putting this water into the ocean is, without doubt, the best way to get rid of it.