Radioactive, but… ‘safe’? Japan to dump Fukushima wastewater in Pacific

Charlemagne · Oct 17, 2018

Radioactive, but… ‘safe’? Japan to dump Fukushima wastewater in Pacific despite objection

Published time: 17 Oct, 2018 07:48
Edited time: 17 Oct, 2018 08:30

Running out of space to store water contaminated by fuel that escaped during the Fukushima meltdown, the Japanese government is preparing to release it into the Pacific Ocean – despite the presence of radioactive elements.

Currently, 1.09 million tons of contaminated water is stored in 900 tanks near the Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, which suffered a catastrophic release of fuel following an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The government claims that radioactive material is being reduced to non-detectable levels through the Advanced Liquid Processing System procedure, but there is evidence that this process does not remove many radioactive elements, including antimony, cobalt, iodine, rhodium, ruthenium, strontium, and tellurium. Tepco, which operates the plant, admits the water contains tritium, but insist the levels are “safe.”

The UK Telegraph has obtained documents from Japanese government sources indicating that authorities are aware ALPS, developed by Hitachi, is not actually eliminating radioactive elements to non-detectable levels. Tepco was forced last month to admit that 80 percent of the water still contains radioactive substances after local residents and fishermen protested plans to dispose of it in the ocean.

Tepco admits that 65,000 tons of ALPS-cleansed water retain more than 100 times the amount of strontium-90 legally permitted. Strontium-90 accumulates in teeth and bones and can cause leukemia and bone cancer.

Tritium, too, is not harmless, despite Tepco’s assurances. According to nuclear specialist Shaun Burnie, beta particles of the element are more harmful than X-rays and gamma rays.

The government initially planned to release the contaminated water in 2016, but was surprised by the strength of local opposition. In March 2016, Tepco executives were charged with contributing to deaths and injuries in relation to the Fukushima meltdown after a judicial panel said they had ignored a 2008 internal report warning the plant could be struck by 15-meter waves in the event of a tsunami.

https://www.rt.com/news/441473-fukushima-wastewater-dump-pacific

rhuarc29 · Oct 18, 2018

The problem with dumping the wastewater is that they won't know the true impact until it is too late. Build a nuclear power plant and you are responsible for its waste. I don't see why the Japanese government would allow this dump.

james t kirk · Oct 18, 2018

rhuarc29 said:
The problem with dumping the wastewater is that they won't know the true impact until it is too late. Build a nuclear power plant and you are responsible for its waste. I don't see why the Japanese government would allow this dump.

It comes down to the Japanese mindset of never being wrong. (Saving face.)

When fukushima happened, the Japanese government completely downplayed the severity of the incident. The thing basically blew up and still there was no problem. I think they just refuse to accept that they fucked up.

jcpro · Oct 18, 2018

VioletteDenys said:
I don't know about y'all but the life and times of Marie Curie definitely instilled a healthy fear of radioactivity in me haha

That's because she was a pioneer researcher. We understand the effects of radioactivity,these days. Actually, an acquaintance of mine from the same religious institution, did some pioneering work at UofT on the effects of low level radiation exposure as a preventative measure to control cell mutations, cancer prevention, etc.
As for Japan thing, the amount seems large, but diluted in the Pacific it's but a large drop. It will certainly not produce another Godzilla.

lomotil · Oct 19, 2018

If the Japanese claim that the radiation in the water is being reduced to none detectable levels than why don't they bottle the water and drink it or irrigate their crops with it etc. They continue to sugar coat inconvenient truths. Releasing the water into the ocean shows contempt for everyone or anything else that is not Japanese.

kugel2 · Oct 19, 2018

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima...they must be all hoaxes. They said they were all so radioactive, yet not one of them gives us a superhero that can fly or have x-ray vision.

Fathammer · Oct 19, 2018

Any amount of radiation is NOT healthy.

The japanees see it as wate water going into a large body of water for dilution. They dont see it as the aquatic life which we eat in one form or another that tends to build up these radioactive pollutants and then end up as HIGH levels in our bodies damaging our DNA and cells.

You know how it goes,........ they just have to say PROVE it that the japanees radioactive water dump caused your cancer. Case closed.

Maybe Japan can be the poster child for Global warming? Good thing we're trying to ban straws, huh?

NotADcotor · Oct 22, 2018

Fathammer said:
Any amount of radiation is NOT healthy.

There is a theory held by a few that small amounts of radiation, above the background radiation everyone gets could be health inducing.

I don't know if there is anything to it.

That being said, toxicity is in the dose and small amounts of radiation are unlikely to cause harm. You get Xrays, leave the house, hang out next to objects and even people.

Promo · Oct 22, 2018

james t kirk said:
It comes down to the Japanese mindset of never being wrong. (Saving face.)
When fukushima happened, the Japanese government completely downplayed the severity of the incident. The thing basically blew up and still there was no problem. I think they just refuse to accept that they fucked up.

^^-- This. Add Tokyo Electric Power Company and the plant management to that list.

There has been long-term studies of the people and animals who remained living near Chernobyl. Both Nova and Nature have had a few programs. I think everyone questions the Russian cancer stats, but there's evidence that low level radiation may actually strengthen our resistance to cancers and related diseases. Similar studies have been performed on commercial airline staff, although they are exposed to higher levels of background radiation than the general population, statistically they suffer less from cancer. It will be interesting to see if other studies support these theories.

Fathammer · Oct 23, 2018

Promo said:
^^-- This. Add Tokyo Electric Power Company and the plant management to that list.

There has been long-term studies of the people and animals who remained living near Chernobyl. Both Nova and Nature have had a few programs. I think everyone questions the Russian cancer stats, but there's evidence that low level radiation may actually strengthen our resistance to cancers and related diseases. Similar studies have been performed on commercial airline staff, although they are exposed to higher levels of background radiation than the general population, statistically they suffer less from cancer. It will be interesting to see if other studies support these theories.

Our organs were not meant to store radiation. Radiation in any strength destroys DNA.

Increasing doses of radiation to your body to help fight of cancer is like saying the more STD's you get, the chances become lower of getting them again due to immunity? I dont want to take that risk.

essguy_ · Oct 23, 2018

james t kirk said:
It comes down to the Japanese mindset of never being wrong. (Saving face.)

When fukushima happened, the Japanese government completely downplayed the severity of the incident. The thing basically blew up and still there was no problem. I think they just refuse to accept that they fucked up.

It's more than an inability to admit being wrong - it's the total avoidance of the risk of being wrong. The typically Japanese mindset is avoiding any one individual making a decision. This happens all the time whenever there is a disaster. Eg: JAL 123 which crashed into a mountain. Rescue was delayed for hours because nobody would make a decision to send rescuers up. As a result, some survivors died waiting. Same thing happens during earthquakes including Fukushima. Oftentimes, the first responders in a disaster are Yakuza not govt because the Yakuza bosses can make decisions. I worked in Japan in the late 80's for a little less than 2 years and saw this in the financial markets. The bond traders who were good were decidedly outside of the cultural norm for modern Japan - not the typical "salaryman". The problem with "Theory Z" was the misconception that consensus was deliberately sought. In fact, consensus decision making was a way to avoid any one individual (especially a boss) making a decision that could later be viewed as wrong. So it was more of an escape than a business practice to be emulated since it slowed all decisions down. When the Japan real estate bubble crashed - it took decades to recover because of groupthink.

Promo · Oct 23, 2018

Fathammer said:
Our organs were not meant to store radiation. Radiation in any strength destroys DNA.

Increasing doses of radiation to your body to help fight of cancer is like saying the more STD's you get, the chances become lower of getting them again due to immunity? I dont want to take that risk.

Ionizing radiation of sufficient dose or duration can destroy DNA. There are many forms of radiation that do no damage (cell phones, radio waves, radar, etc.). Where did the "store radiation" come from?

Weird comparison, certainly not relevant or valid. A more meaningful comparison would be like saying you expose your skin to small quantities of sunlight in order to develop a tan, thus allowing you to spend more time in the sun safely. Or eating certain fruits and nuts to stimulate your immune system to help avoid or fight select viruses.

Certain low levels of radiation can be like a catalyst, it "can stimulate the activation of biological repair mechanisms and have the potential to repair damage done to cells by ionizing radiation" - http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph241/yang1/

There are many models of biological response to radiation that show that the LNT model is unreasonable at low doses. One surprising model is radiation hormesis, which essentially states that there are benefits from low-level ionizing radiation stimulation.[6] Other scientists have noticed that humans often have an adaptive phase response: low-level ionizing radiation seems to be able to condition cells to have better responses to higher amounts of radiation dose. - https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Linear_no-threshold_model

Radiation hormesis is the hypothesis that low doses of ionizing radiation (within the region of and just above natural background levels) are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, that are not activated in absence of ionizing radiation. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis

Have you watched the Nova and Nature shows? The results presented were quite interesting - however it's a fairly new area of study and it remains just a theory at this time.

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Radioactive, but… ‘safe’? Japan to dump Fukushima wastewater in Pacific

Charlemagne

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rhuarc29

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james t kirk

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jcpro

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lomotil

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kugel2

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