IAEA: Decision on Fukushima wastewater release up to Japan

Caruso said the IAEA's independent evaluation of the plan “will provide confidence to the society, Japanese society, neighbors, other member states.”

If he is recognizing the Japanese government will do as they please even if the evaluation concludes it should not this means there is no confidence gained, it will be at much a rubber stamp of the process.

Well then, why not bottle it up, overwrap it in multiple layers of plastic, draw some cute little anime characters on it, and sell it as omiyage!

All LDP Diet members should be drinking it if it is that safe !!

What ‘international standards’ allow radioactivity to be released into the environment?

What a load of tripe!

If IAEA findings are not legally binding then ensure that if there are any discrepancies or any failure to meet international standards, the report is fully disclosed in the public arena and not behind closed doors. The citizens of Fukushima and Japan should conduct their own research and get a "second opinion." How about UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists) for starters? The third to the last paragraph stands out. Have TEPCO and Kishida go eat sashimi with the same amount of Tritium that is proposed to be released.

Well IAEA has punted like we always knew they would.

If Fukushima were such a safe location then we would have expected Tepco officials and Japanese politicians to have made huge real estate purchases there due to the abundance of land post tsunami.

Which politicians have made Fukushima their second home?

Leave it up to Japan....... Well I guess we are all in for another man-made disaster, this time affecting more than just Japanese!

About two million people live in Fukushima.

The IAEA is on the side of nuclear energy and its promotion.

Hope Japan doesn't cry when it's marine exports are banned. In any case, they can't blame anyone else for this, the IAEA has clearly said all blame for this is on Japan if they do it.

Likely there's no way it's "good" for the environment but if they deny it then they would be immediately encountered with the question then what the heck can we do, which they will have no response to.

They say tritium affects humans more when it is consumed in fish.

Gee what could go wrong......

In order to refine tritium you need to boil the water that it is in. Tritium water boils at a slightly higher temperature than protium (normal water) and deuterium (heavy but relatively safe water).

What they are saying it that the energy that it would take to boil the water to separate the tritium is cost prohibitive. Boiling sea water will get you a lot of salt which would foul the stills needed to do the boiling and separation.

Tritium is actually rather expensive. If there was enough tritium to cause problems they would be refining it to sell it.

Tritium has a half life of about 12 years. That means half of it will have decayed to regular water in 12 years, in 24 years 75% will have decayed into regular water, and so on.

I am not sure what other miscellaneous radioactive things are the in the saltwater, maybe some isotope of sodium or chlorine?

The danger with tritium is if you drink it, or eat something containing it, there is a chance it will decay while within your body and damage some vital DNA or RNA fragment. Given it decays quickly but not super quickly there is a good chance it would pass through with no effect.

We are exposed to radioactivity all the time. Our bodies are designed to repair the damage from that constant exposure. That makes this tritium release more of a political issue than a true health issue.

I have a failed thyroid gland. I have to take thyroid supplements to stay alive. I probably got this from normal background radiation coupled with the nuclear tests the world was conducting in the 1950s. The amount of radiation involved in this water release is miniscule compared to exposure from nuclear tests done in the 20th century. I mention this because I was adversely effected by radiation but I am not saying be scared, just be aware and study the dangers and be aware that not having nuclear power is also a danger from CO2 production by fossil fuels. Which is worse? Evidence points towards fossil fuels being far more deadly than nuclear energy. Our bodies can repair low level radiation damage. Our bodies can not survive the temperatures that excess CO2 will cause.

Probably more up to the people of earth ?

Cowards (IAEA)who don’t want to be blamed for radiating the seas of Russia, SK, NK, China and Japan itself. Also west coasts of Canada and USA.

calling the contaminated ionizing radionuclide laden by-product of the nuclear disaster “WASTEWATER” is classic propaganda. Usually propaganda is only used to cheat, lie, brainwash. Tritium is actually harmful and Alps doesn’t remove all radionuclides, many with half lives up to 100o years.

money involved in the failed nuclear energy experiment has significant effects on not just humans, but the whole planets ecology.

LDP Fukushimano omizu no nomihodai.

Pack in bottles send to Tokyo and ask LDP gov guys to drink it publicly...as proof that its safe.No joke this time,no irony,I am serious.

A lot of the comments above make me laugh. (not all) So many of you are saying basically no do not do it, but then nothing else.

How about instead of saying no you actually come up with an alternative. They can not keep on storing this water and something must be done with it. There is no choice.

So I suggest if you can got no idea of a safe alternative way then keep your comments to yourself

No one in their right mind will be eating seafood from the Pacific side of Japan anyway.

Following the event of 3/11 millions of tons of highly radiated water flowed into the ocean from the reactor basements for months.

The treatment might meet IAEA standards the first weeks or months but I have zero confidence TEPCO and the Japanese government will maintain those standards. Shortcuts will be taken. Cost cutting measure will be implemented (quietly).

IAEA - Decision on Fukushima wastewater release up to Japan:

We are utterly disappointed by IAEA's negative attitude & reaction to the disposal of radioactive water.

For the past 11 years, we reckon IAEA has been avoiding its responsibility for Fukushima's sad fiasco.

Apart from some unconscious humanoids in automatic authority bashing mode and ignorant know-alls, decent people know the ‘processed water’ release must be done soon, or, should have been done years ago.

The same ‘supposedly safe’ or even worse level releases are being made every LWR power plant countries including PRC and RPK. IAEA knows that, or, they may not be fully aware of the practices of those neighbouring states since they have been rejecting to disclose their scientific details on their release unlike Japan.

We need to be objective and rational on these ongoing issues.

Japanese authorities are always very deceptive about nuclear plants.

They called contaminated water such as "Tritium water""water containing tritium", try to deceive general public as if it is same to drainage of not broken other nuclear plants.

Contaminated water from Fukushima nuclear plants directly touch meltdown debris, still contain many kinds of radioactivity that filtering facility cannot filter. 

They plan to dump it to Pacific ocean to prioritize circumstances of Tepco who wants to reduce cost, with never considering safety or health or environment.

"Scientific fact" in Japan is always distorted easily by political and economical pressure historically.

Therefore, Japan repeats failures also responding Covid19.

There isn't really anything to debate here. It's Japanese territory, and they'll do what they want. The only moral of the story is, if you're in the age bracket where you might conceivably produce kids, don't. Practice safe sex forever.

I think that the scientific evidence is on the side of those who want to release the treated wastewater into the ocean, but first they will need to sway public opinion, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Provide confidence???? They mean to say that they will force the locals into this whether they like it or not.

Why don't the politicians and Tepco officials drink a glass of this water in front of the public. They should do this until the day of release. In addition, they should use this water for bathing daily to gain that forced confidence.