CNN: Japan may have to dump radioactive Fukushima water into the ocean because it's out of storage space

[China]

Fukushima water release could change human DNA, Greenpeace warns

 

Contaminated water that could soon be released into the sea from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant contains radioactive carbon with the potential to damage human DNA, environmental rights organization Greenpeace has warned.

 

The environmental group claims that the 1.23 million metric tons of water stored at the plant -- scene of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster -- contains "dangerous" levels of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 and other "hazardous" radionuclides, which it says will have "serious long-term consequences for communities and the environment" if the water is released into the Pacific Ocean.

To cool fuel cores at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has pumped in tens of thousands of tons of water over the years. Once used, the water is put into storage.

 

But nine years on from Japan's worst nuclear disaster, storage space is running out, and the government is still deciding what to do with the water.

Authorities, including the country's environment minister, have indicated the only solution is to release it into the ocean -- a plan facing opposition from environmental campaigners and fishing industry representatives.

In a report released Friday, Greenpeace said the water, in addition to radioactive isotope tritium, contains radioactive isotope carbon-14, which is "major contributor to collective human radiation dose and has the potential to damage human DNA."

Shaun Burnie, author of the report and senior nuclear specialist with Greenpeace Germany, told CNN there could be as much as 63.6GBq (gigabecquerels) of carbon-14 in total in the tanks.

 

"These, together with other radionuclides in the water will remain hazardous for thousands of years with the potential to cause genetic damage. It's one more reason why these plans have to be abandoned," Burnie said in a statement.

Ryounosuke Takanori, a spokesperson for TEPCO told CNN in a statement that the concentration of carbon-14 contained in the treated water is about 2 to 220 becquerels per liter, as measured in the water tanks.

Takanori said "even if the water is continuously drunk by 2 liters every day, the annual exposure is about 0.001 to 0.11 millisieverts, which is not a level that affects health."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Water leaks indicate new damage at Fukushima nuclear plant

 

Cooling water levels have fallen in two reactors at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant since a powerful earthquake hit the area last weekend, indicating possible additional damage, its operator said Friday.

 

New damage could further complicate the plant’s already difficult decommissioning process, which is expected to take decades.

 

Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Keisuke Matsuo said the drop in water levels in the Unit 1 and 3 reactors indicates that the existing damage to their primary containment chambers was worsened by Saturday’s magnitude 7.3 quake, allowing more water to leak.

 

The leaked water is believed to have remained inside the reactor buildings and there is no sign of any outside impact, he said.

 

In 2011, a powerful magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactor cores to melt and nuclear fuel to fall to the bottom of their primary containment vessels.

 

TEPCO will monitor the water and temperatures at the bottom of the containment vessels, Matsuo said.

 

Since the 2011 disaster, cooling water has been escaping constantly from the damaged primary containment vessels into the basements of the reactor buildings. To make up for the loss, additional cooling water has been pumped into the reactors to cool the melted fuel remaining inside them. The recent decline in the water levels indicates that more water than before is leaking out, TEPCO said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

‘We don’t know when it will end’: 10 years after Fukushima

 

The effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident will be felt for decades into the future, say local and international activists on the 10th anniversary of Japan’s triple disaster of March 2011, contradicting the Japanese government’s official narrative that the crisis has largely been overcome.

 

Memories of that March day 10 years ago remain fresh for those who experienced it.

 

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan’s northeastern coast – the strongest ever recorded – was followed first by an enormous tsunami and then by the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant that was built on the coast and destroyed by the power of the wave. Nearly 20,000 people in the country’s northeast lost their lives.

 

A decade later, most Japanese in the Tohoku region have been able to move on with their lives, but in the areas near Fukushima Daiichi, where radioactive particles contaminated the land, recovery has not been so swift.

 

“Buildings could be repaired after the earthquake and tsunami,” said NGO worker Ayumi Iida. “Only the nuclear disaster hasn’t ended. We don’t know when it will end.”

 

In the wake of the nuclear accident, the government ordered people in nearby cities to leave, and established radiation exclusion zones around the plant. Nearly 165,000 residents were evacuated at its peak in 2012.

 

Decontamination efforts have meant most areas have been reopened and people allowed to return to their homes. But there are still nearly 37,000 people listed as Fukushima evacuees and many of them say they have no intention of going back.

 

While the past 10 years has not seen a significant spike of cancers among Fukushima’s population or other obvious signs of radiation-linked diseases – in contrast to Chernobyl which released 10 times more radiation – experts caution that there remains ample ground for concern as exposure accumulates over time.

 

Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist for Greenpeace Germany, says that even now radiation levels in many parts of the former exclusion zones remain uncomfortably high.

 

“The level of contamination is such that if these radiation levels were found in a laboratory inside a controlled nuclear facility, it would require intervention from at least the plant management, and it would have to be closed off and decontaminated,” he said.

 

Like many other observers, Burnie dismisses claims that the Fukushima crisis is “under control” (as former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared as long ago as 2013).

 

Click on the link for the full article

[LadySkinsFan]

Radioactivity from Fukushima has already reached the West Coast of the US and Canada. Basically, we are ****ed if we eat anything from the sea in coming years.

[TheGreatBuzz]

7 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

Basically, we are ****ed if we eat anything from the sea in coming years.

This is simply not true.

[China]

Gov't to release Fukushima nuclear plant water into sea despite fishermen's objection

 

The Japanese government is poised to release treated radioactive water accumulated at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea despite opposition from fishermen, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.

 

It will hold a meeting of related ministers as early as Tuesday to formally decide on the plan, a major development following over seven years of discussions on how to discharge the water used to cool down melted fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

 

The treated water containing radioactive tritium, a byproduct of nuclear reactors, is said to pose little risk to human health because even if one drinks the water, so long as the tritium concentration is low, the amounts of tritium would not accumulate in the body and would soon be excreted.

 

There is also no risk of external exposure even if the water comes in contact with skin.

 

Still, concerns remain among Japan's fisheries industry and consumers as well as neighboring countries such as South Korea and China.

 

The government has said it cannot continue postponing a decision on the disposal issue, given that the storage capacity of water tanks at the Fukushima complex is expected to run out as early as fall next year.

 

It asserts that space needs to be secured on the premises, such as for keeping melted fuel debris that will be extracted from the damaged reactors, to move forward with the decades-long process of scrapping the complex.

 

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc (TEPCO) says it will take around two years for the discharge to start.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

I don't know why the fishermen would be worried.

 

[China]

On 4/10/2021 at 4:22 PM, China said:

Gov't to release Fukushima nuclear plant water into sea despite fishermen's objection

 

The Japanese government is poised to release treated radioactive water accumulated at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea despite opposition from fishermen, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.

 

It will hold a meeting of related ministers as early as Tuesday to formally decide on the plan, a major development following over seven years of discussions on how to discharge the water used to cool down melted fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

 

 

Japan to release contaminated Fukushima water into sea

 

The announcement of the plan, 10 years after the nuclear power station was devastated in a tsunami triggered by one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, is also another blow to the fishing industry in Fukushima, which has opposed the release for years. Fishing unions have said releasing the water would have a “catastrophic impact” on the industry.

 

Five special rapporteurs from the United Nations said in March that the contaminated water remained a risk and that the ocean discharge plan could not be an “acceptable solution”.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

TEPCO files for approval of Fukushima plant water release

 

The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has applied for approval from safety authorities to construct an undersea tunnel and other facilities needed for the planned release of large amounts of treated radioactive water into the sea.

 

The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), said it hopes to obtain approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority to begin constructing the facilities in June and start releasing the water in April 2023.

 

The approval would cover the basic plan and design of the undersea tunnel, equipment to dilute the water with sea water and other necessary materials.

 

TEPCO plans to release massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water into the ocean about one kilometer from the plant to ensure safety and minimize the impact on local fishing and the environment.

 

The contaminated water is to be diluted with large amounts of seawater to reduce the concentration of radioactive materials below allowable limits.

 

About 1,000 storage tanks at the plant currently filled with radioactive water need to be removed to make room for facilities necessary for the plant’s decommissioning, TEPCO says.

 

An official in charge of the water discharge project, Junichi Matsumoto, said TEPCO will construct the undersea tunnel by drilling through bedrock in the seabed.

 

Under the plan TEPCO submitted to the nuclear authority, the water will be released about 12 meters (40 feet) below the ocean’s surface.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Robot ventures inside radioactive ruins of Fukushima power plant

 

Melted nuclear fuel has been filmed in the bowels of Unit 1 of Japan's Fukushima Power Plant as a remote controlled submarine navigated the radioactive ruins of the plant.

The remote-controlled device took to waters surrounding the plant on February 9 as part of ongoing clean-up efforts by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO).

It comes more than a decade after the plant's catastrophic meltdown in 2011.

 

A melted lump of nuclear fuel was photographed at the bottom of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. (TEPCO/IRID//Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd)
 

Click on the link for the full article and video

[China]

Fukushima nuclear disaster: Japan to release radioactive water into sea this year

 

Japan says it will release more than a million tonnes of water into the sea from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant this year.

 

After treatment the levels of most radioactive particles meet the national standard, the operator said.

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the proposal is safe, but neighbouring countries have voiced concern.

 

The 2011 Fukushima disaster was the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

 

Decommissioning has already started but could take four decades.

 

"We expect the timing of the release would be sometime during this spring or summer," said chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Friday, adding that the government will wait for a "comprehensive report" from IAEA before the release.

 

Every day, the plant produces 100 cubic metres of contaminated water, which is a mixture of groundwater, seawater and water used to keep the reactors cool. It is then filtered and stored in tanks.

 

With more than 1.3 million cubic metres on site, space is running out.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Captain Wiggles]

Ok but I feel like their plan is how Godzilla gets created for the reals. 😬

 

[Mr. Sinister]

I'm pretty sure I made a joke a decade or so ago about radioactive, mutated fish people being our descendants, building an amphibious Empire atop our flooded and crumbling remains.

 

Looks like we're well on our way

[FrFan]

[China]

South Korea experts say Japan carefully answered questions on plan to release radioactive water

 

The head of a South Korean team of experts said Wednesday they saw all of the facilities they had requested to visit at Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and Japanese officials had carefully answered their questions about a contentious plan to release treated but still slightly radioactive water into the sea, a sign of a further thawing of ties between the countries.

 

During their two-day visit, which was closed to the media, officials from the Japanese government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, showed the 21-member delegation facilities related to treatment, safety checks, transport and dilution of the waste water.

 

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Japan to release Fukushima water into ocean from Aug. 24

 

Japan said on Tuesday it will start releasing into the sea more than 1 million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Aug. 24, going ahead with a plan heavily criticised by China.

 

The plan, approved two years ago by the Japanese government as crucial to decommissioning the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) (9501.T), has also faced criticism from local fishing groups fearing reputational damage.

 

"I expect the water release to start on August 24, weather conditions permitting," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.

 

The announcement comes a day after the government said it had won "a degree of understanding" from the fishing industry over the release of the water into the Pacific Ocean, even as fishing groups said they still feared the reputational damage would ruin their livelihood.

 

The water will initially be released in smaller portions and with extra checks, with the first discharge totalling 7,800 cubic metres over about 17 days starting Thursday, Tepco said.

 

That water will contain about 190 becquerels of tritium per litre, below the World Health Organisation drinking water limit of 10,000 becquerels per litre, according to Tepco. A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity.

 

Japan has said that the water release is safe. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, greenlighted the plan in July, saying that it met international standards and that the impact it would have on people and the environment was "negligible".

 

About 56% of respondents to a survey conducted by Japanese broadcaster FNN over the weekend said they supported the release, while 37% opposed.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

At least based on that article?  

 

It's 1/50 of the amount that's allowed in drinking water.  

 

And it's tritium water.  Meaning it chemically reacts identically to water, and will dilute exactly like water.  In the frikking ocean.  

 

 

[PeterMP]

4 hours ago, Larry said:

At least based on that article?  

 

It's 1/50 of the amount that's allowed in drinking water.  

 

And it's tritium water.  Meaning it chemically reacts identically to water, and will dilute exactly like water.  In the frikking ocean.  

 

 

 

Not quite the same.  The bond with the heavier atom (tritium) will be a little different and this can affect things like the rate of reactions.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_isotope_effect

 

I was once told by somebody very smart that if you drank enough deuterated (heavier than hydrogen but not radioactive) water you'd die because it would mess up the rates at which things were supposed to happen in the body (and other things).  Though I recently saw something that suggested that wasn't true.  So I don't know.

 

The other thing is that tritium does decay to He which has very different chemistry.  Though it decays slowly so unlikely to be a big problem.  It is also radioactive even if the particle generated is weak.

 

Not saying at the level they are releasing it is likely to be a problem, but wouldn't say it will for sure be completely irrelevant.

 

But everything comes with risks.

Edited August 23, 2023 by PeterMP

[Larry]

3 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

The other thing is that tritium does decay to He which has very different chemistry.

 

It decays to He?  It gains a Proton?  

 

Learn something new.  

 

[PeterMP]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

 

It decays to He?  It gains a Proton?  

 

Learn something new.  

 

 

I wouldn't really say it gains a proton.  Tritium is tritium because it has 2 neutrons.  One of the neutrons is converted into a proton during decay to generate a 1 neutron and 2 proton system which is called ³He.

[China]

Fukushima: Japan asks China to stop citizens making abusive calls

 

Japan has complained to the Chinese government after businesses and institutions began receiving volumes of abusive phone calls about the release of contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima plant.

 

The calls come from numbers with Chinese dialling codes.

 

One restaurant chain in Fukushima has received more than 1,000 calls.

 

It comes as Tokyo said seawater around the nuclear plant is showing no detectable levels of radioactivity.

 

The calls had begun since the release of contaminated water from Fukushima, authorities said, and have been made to government departments, schools and even an aquarium.

 

The callers speak in Chinese, Japanese and English - and sometimes use abusive language. They speak about their opposition to Japan's decision to release the treated nuclear water.

 

China has described the discharge as an "extremely selfish and irresponsible act".

 

On Thursday it said it would ban Japanese seafood imports.

 

Meanwhile, Tokyo is hoping regular radiation testing in the waters near the plant will allay concerns from neighbouring countries and fishing groups.

 

Weekly test results will be published for the next three months.

 

More than a million tonnes of water stored at the nuclear plant will be discharged over the next 30 years.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by China

[Corcaigh]

On 8/22/2023 at 6:41 PM, PeterMP said:

 

I was once told by somebody very smart that if you drank enough deuterated (heavier than hydrogen but not radioactive) water you'd die because it would mess up the rates at which things were supposed to happen in the body (and other things).  Though I recently saw something that suggested that wasn't true.  So I don't know.

The heavy water will be about 10% more dense, and more viscous. I could imagine that having significant impact on balance with the inner ear, for starters.

[Corcaigh]

On 8/22/2023 at 6:41 PM, PeterMP said:

 

I was once told by somebody very smart that if you drank enough deuterated (heavier than hydrogen but not radioactive) water you'd die because it would mess up the rates at which things were supposed to happen in the body (and other things).  Though I recently saw something that suggested that wasn't true.  So I don't know.

The heavy water will be about 10% more dense, and more viscous. I could imagine that having significant impact on balance with the inner ear, for starters.

 

And if you have ingested enough water that includes Tritium, and it is inside your body when it undergoes beta decay that that would be an increased cancer risk. 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Corcaigh

[China]

IAEA officials: Fukushima ongoing discharge of treated radioactive water going well

 

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said the discharge of the second batch of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea ended as planned on Monday, and International Atomic Energy Agency officials in Japan for their first safety and monitoring mission since the release began two months ago said “no issues” were observed.

 

Fukushima Daiichi started releasing treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the sea on Aug. 24. The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, said the release of a second, 7,800-ton batch of treated wastewater was completed, with its daily seawater sampling results fully meeting safety standards.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

A small drone flies into a damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor for the first time to study melted fuel

 

A drone small enough to fit in one’s hand flew inside one of the damaged reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Wednesday in hopes it can examine some of the molten fuel debris in areas where earlier robots failed to reach.

 

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings also began releasing the fourth batch of the plant’s treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the sea Wednesday. The government and TEPCO, the plant’s operator, say the water is safe and the process is being monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but the discharges have faced strong opposition by fishing groups and a Chinese ban on Japanese seafood.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Renegade7]

To this day I'm still suprised this is best plan Japan could come up with?

 

Aliens be like "And these are your smart ones? Yikes."