Table of Contents
Is it safe for Japan to dumping nuclear waste in ocean?
Japan argues that the release of the waste water is safe as it is processed to remove almost all radioactive elements and will be greatly diluted. Scientists argue that the elements remaining in the water are only harmful to humans in large doses.
Why Is Japan dumping radioactive water into Pacific?
The Japanese utility giant Tepco is planning to release more than 1 million cubic meters of treated radioactive water — enough to fill 500 Olympic-size swimming pools — from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, part of its nearly $200 billion effort to clean up the worst atomic …
How much tritium is in the ocean?
The total inventory of tritium decay corrected in 2016 has been estimated using evaluation of the natural and artificial contributions in 23 spatial subdivisions of the total ocean. It is determined equal to 26.8 ± 14 kg including 3.8 kg of cosmogenic tritium.
Is tritium safe in water?
Tritium levels measured in the drinking water of communities near nuclear facilities do not pose a health risk.
Is tritium harmful to humans?
Tritium does not have chemically toxic effects and its potential to be hazardous to human health is solely because it emits ionizing radiation (the beta particle). This radiation exposure may very slightly increase the probability that a person will develop cancer during his or her lifetime.
Should we dump toxic waste into the Pacific Ocean?
Japan and TEPCO considered this long-term storage option, but opted instead for the cheapest choice – simply dumping the wastewater into the Pacific. The era of intentionally dumping toxic waste in our one global ocean is, or should be, over.
Will Japan’s plan to release radioactive water have ‘zero environmental impact’?
Brent Heuser, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois, said Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant will have “zero environmental impact.”
Is Japan’s nuclear power plant safe from a tsunami?
Remember, TEPCO and the Japanese government approved locating the nuclear power plant’s emergency generators in a tsunami flood zone. Their assurances now that there is no risk in releasing this radioactive water are neither credible nor scientifically defensible.
How dangerous is tritium?
“Tritium is not dangerous in small amounts it’s gonna be very dilute, it is simply not a concern, the environmental impact is zero,” Heuser, a professor of nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday. Still, Japan’s neighbors including China and South Korea have opposed the plan.