TEPCO considers dumping more tainted water into sea

What could possibly go wrong?

TEPCO, I am sick and tired of you polluting the world's oceans! Take the water, bottle it and serve it to Diet members for all I care but do NOT dump it into the sea!

With all todays science and technology can't this water be filtered and cleaned ?????

It's well time other nations put the spotlight on this travesty. Not just the release of this toxic water but the whole bungled mess. Japan just can not do it on it's own, put the pride down and the sleeves up.

It is time for other countries to voice their complaints. It is bad enough that TEPCO has ruined large areas of this country but now the oceans? They don't get to do that and get away with it!

OK, last night, I watched the news, about how Miyagi and Iwate fishing ports are looking to be rebuilt, so business can resume...

They brought up the financial issues, of why this port can't be rebuilt, here, and that one, there, yadda yadda...

But the thing that struck me, was, there was no mention whatsoever of radiation. It was like a big stink in the room, that no-body would acknowledge...

It seems the denial is big, in a place where people are looking to get back on their feet, financially...

Do you really think they are containing all the water from this plant, if you look at the picture of the destruction i doubht they have the capability yet to control this. Even if they do contain all the water what will they do with it???

shoganai

Nice move Tepco!! Where is GreenPeace??

“We cannot possibly let TEPCO do this again,” he added

Of course we can't, but they will anyhow -- either by announcing it first, as they are here, or -- Oop! -- through another 'leak' that suddenly crops up. And didn't TEPCO JUST promise yesterday there would be no more leaks or harmful spills into the ocean? I guess TEPCO promises are good for about 15 hours, if that.

Anyway, they COULD of course build new storage buildings, but they probably don't want to spend the cash to do so. Shame there weren't some $30 million in government earmarked supplementary budget money that could go towards reconsctruction and maybe help out here.

And they want us to yell ganbarou Tohoku?? With fish sashimi and a side order of RADIATION??

Time to throw TEPCO's management into the ocean.

If you are American, write your Senator. If you are from Hawaii write a letter to Obama. It's about time.

This is a crime. You can submit this to CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC and Environment agency along with the senators. FYI

www.whitehouse.gov

Too bad the limit is only 2500 words. Anyway, I got the automated response. It's going to take a lot more than just my post to get some alacrity before TEPCO dumps all that radiated water irresponsibly.

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Nobody caught the fact that this will be processed water? i.e. the water that the senator drank a while back? This is not the same as the first release, nor the subsequent accidental releases, and will likely be less than other radioactive releases around the world.

At least now TEPCO has decided to annouce activities before acting them out. That's a good sign in becoming transparent, I hope.

I wonder how many liters of water already leaked (or intentionally dumped) into the Pacific without announcements or even acknowledgements from TEPCO.

Has TEPCO checked every crook and cranny for cracks, which might actually be leaking radiation into the soil or water? I highly doubt it.

TEPCO has proven that they cannot contain this problem and have simply issued news releases?! This is sickening to the people that need some honesty and to the other ignorant residents that are looking the other way hoping it will all blow over.

I can only imagine how contaminated the pacific fishing will be (is), let alone the water table of Fukushima and neighbouring prefectures. There is no point to rebuild those areas. People should not be living there, plain and simple. Why even risk the side-effects? Why leave kids exposed? Just stupid.

Processed water? How well processed? I guess I'm not inclined to trust TEPCO with anything any longer.

What else can they do with the tainted water?

TEPCO has proven they cannot handle this. Let's have some honesty and perhaps a huge wake-up call to the ignorant residents that remain stubborn and refuse to get their children out of those areas. Why rebuild these areas? A coat of paint will not fix the underlying damage. Just stupid.

YEAHHH DUMP IT ALL IN THE SEA!!! Irradiate all the sea creatures, feed them radioactive trash, but then Do not forget to fish them all back, so you can have your sashimi and sushi you love so much!!!!!!!

The Japanese is about to become the next generation MUTANT. No doubt about that.

No sarcasm here, just plain old anger. (-_-)

Oh oh... I know - Bottle that water! We already know JP Politician's love drinking it.. Tepco can add a funky name an a cute anime character to the label too... How about FukiMizo - Japan Recovery Water... Serve with School lunches... Seriously - How can such stupid ideas as dumping more radiation into the food chain (eaten any sashimi recently folks?) still find favor with Tepco management.. These people need to have the force of law applied to there activities before they give us all cancer.

This could be a violation of international law called London Convention: (Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Prevention_of_Marine_Pollution_by_Dumping_of_Wastes_and_Other_Matter

pamelot: "It seems the denial is big, in a place where people are looking to get back on their feet, financially..."

No one said they themselves have to EAT what they catch -- just catch it, wherein the government will fail to inspect it until a few months after sales have begun, and it will be shipped to supermarkets nation-wide under the label 'Pacific Ocean' (not which prefecture said ocean area resides in). Later some ports will be closed periodically after the fisheries have gotten back on their feet financially (to an extent), with the government reporting (or Greenpeace on their behalf) the level is FAR above the newly revised limit of (enter bequerel number), but is 'not harmful to human health even if you consumed it every day for a year'. Then they'll lift the ban and allow sales to go through, then reinstate it, etc. etc. The government won't stop them for proper testing because it means less compensation money they have to pay out, and also who on earth would want to hurt the feelings of the people who work at the fisheries?

TEPCO considers dumping more tainted water into sea

Correctly: TEPCO considers publishing one another incidents of continuously dumping tainted water into sea.

If you look at previous article, TEPCO tried to clean up the waste through a filtration system. It ran for about an hour before the filters filled up with radiation and had to be stopped. I guess they undercalculated the level of radiation. I don't know if they fixed or improved the filtration system since then. That was about 3 months ago I read about it.

I fixed TEPCO's quote for everyone.

"But Ogawa said the water release plan was outrageous, especially after the power company had to apologize this week for getting caught leaking highly radioactive waste water into the Pacific."

Serious though, there really is no way to prove that TEPCO HASN'T been doing this regularly since the accident. kinda like when you see a cockroach, you know there are ton more lurking around somewhere.

I bet they have been and continue to dump radioactive waste into the sea all the time.

Are there any watchdogs making sure that they aren't or do we just have to take TEPCO on their word?

I smell a rat.

If you are Japanese you need to explore your options. Social Networking is a powerful tool. However on this particular issue lives must be put in danger to fight this. You see if your country wants to go to war, you could rush a mob onto a runway or stand in front of a tank if you have such strong conviction.

This is quite different. Nobody is going out there to Fukushima to stop them. It's almost certain death and physical harm. Our keyboards are clean, we can type and send messages all day long. If the world is going to fight this move, we'll have to get our hands dirty.

The world stopped watching when the government told them everything is A-Okay. You can make a YouTube Video. I'm sending a message to a guy named Phil DeFranco this evening. He has a huge fanbase. If he reports on your story that's more than 1 million hits right there.

I never cease to be amazed by the gross incompetence...

Thanks for ruining everything, TEPCO. Surprised the Japanese aren't so angry. Wait a minute, I'm not surprised.

@zichi - because it is not a closed recycling system. Groundwater is entering the basements of the buildings, becoming mixed and contaminated with the existing water, and continually adds to the total volume of the recycle system. They cannot stop it happening.

This is what they imaginatively call, "Being close to a stable condition known as a cold shutdown!"

considers? they did it again and again and again.

Imagine if this was happening(God forbid) in the UK or US. The public outrage would be intense. Seems like TEPCO might get away with it...unfortuantely. People in Japan are far too complacent. Some say it's good to be peaceful, but there is peaceful and there is just plain ignorant.

"Subsequent reports have found the radiation was widely dispersed and did not pose a threat to human or animal life."

This is a lie. In fact, every study not done by TEPCO or the Japanese government has found that the radioactive particles have concentrated, rather than dispersed.

MasterBape: "People in Japan are far too complacent."

It's the 'shouganai' attitude, my friend. Much better to be poisoned and allow your children and theirs to be poisoned -- and pay for it!! -- than to voice one's complaints, although for a change there are more Japanese than usual marching in Tokyo against TEPCO, etc, which is good to see. Would be nice if there was more of it. Instead of accepting the usual government, "Please understand our position" and "Gaman shimashou!" they should pressure the government into acting, and insist TEPCO management be jailed (especially past management), as well as insisting the new management be composed of people who are actually qualified and actually do work.

Pretty ironic that the country that before March 11th was trying to portray itself as the leader in environmental protection has now become the poster-child for environmental disaster. And all because, as is most often the case with Japan, they were all talk and no action. They ignored safety issues in relation to Fukushima for at least two decades -- most noticably in regards to adequate protection from a potential tsunami. Then they had a completely inadequate crisis response plan -- likely causing the near-complete meltdowns and release of radioactive gases. And, finally, they have demonstrated complete incompetence and disregard for the environment in trying to control the damage. Too typical of Japan.

What happened to the water filter system? I'm guessing it didn't work since we have not heard anything about it since and now tepco are saying this.

Okay, time to pack bags and get out of here...

The big question is.... WHERE do you suggest radiation contaminated water be dumped. Anyone????

Try the South Pole. The whaling fleet can drag it there and leave it.

WHERE do you suggest radiation contaminated water be dumped. Anyone????

....................................

how about dumping the water around all the disputed islands with China, Korea and Russia ?

Radio active whale meat anyone?

@zichi

1~3 are the problem RVs, but with the shut-down 4 it is the used fuel pool. With nitrogen, they just pump it in, and it boils off, displacing enough hydrogen to keep potential explosions down. They can't even fill the RVs with water now to visualise the base of them, as there are so many leaks, which makes a mockery of their plans to remove the fuel.

Seems the problem is that TEPCO's definition of low-level waste (i.e. processed contaminated water) is still too high for everyone else.

Good for you, NetNinja, I would do the same to write the White House.To my understanding each incoming mails are carefully read by his staffs and monitored. . .

Sad but if you wish to fight nuclear waste why not go after every abuser.

Nuclear is not clean nor safe.

I told you all back when they were hauling that big tank from shizuoka that it wasnt going to be enough & that tepco wud be dumping into the ocean.

I bet they have been dumping here & there pretty much constantly, just let those leaks keep leaking, and as I said way back they wont have any choice but to dump into the pacific as there is simply too much waste water to have a hope in hell of containing onshore

Ah, nuclear energy: safe, clean, cheap. Until...3/11. Anyone up for an Occupy TEPCO???

The leak was believed to contain 26 billion becquerels of radioactive materials, a level the company insisted was not dangerous, even for people who consumed seafood caught in the area every day.

This is Criminal.

Like any insurance con job - you got to make out you're still hurting to continue getting the payouts. http://www.oecd-nea.org/law/legislation/japan-docs/ Remember this reality is based on the repetition of non-validatable data and well timed press releases. Had to chuckle at the meiji one the other day. Think about it.

@zichi

TEPCO, has said it is scrapping a plan to dump water it treated for radiation contamination into the sea. The climbdown was forced by fierce protests from fishing groups.

Well they had 9 months to come up with this brilliant plan, now what?

I hope former plant manager Masao Yoshida will speak everything he knows, how much water has been leaking, for how long... and everything.

BTW,

Mr. Yoshida has esophageal cancer, TEPCO said this morning.The cumulative amount of radiation Yoshida was exposed to since the nuclear crisis started in March was 70 millisieverts, Tepco said, adding it is unlikely his cancer is linked to the radioactive materials spewed by the plant's crippled nuclear reactors.

I hope he will get better.

Tepco had already admitted that the water level in their basements rise and ebb with the tide anyway which means it's connected to the outflow into the sea already. They're probably going to use this "dumping" as the reason for the widespread marine contamination sure to follow in later months. It's just pitiful how insistent Tepco is (like a broken record) of how "below safe level" the final contamination is (they surely have very precognitive "experts" in their pockets willing to swear that anybody who gets sick is not attributable to Fukushima leakage) WAKE UP GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD!!!

Oh - forgot to ask, what does TEPCO do with all the highly radioactive filters they use on those thousands of tons of purifying recycled water??? Feed it to the birds!!!! Probably export it to some unsuspecting 3rd world country camouflaged as "donation".....

Sadly, I see no alternative to dumping it into the ocean. Even if they do build more storage tanks they will still have to dump it eventually.

Within weeks of the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, TEPCO dumped more than 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific.

A quick reminder of the harmful effects of this past action.

"To put this in perspective, the Pacific Ocean holds about 300 trillion swimming pools full of water, and they are going to release about five swimming pools full," said Timothy Jorgensen, chair of the radiation safety committee at Georgetown University Medical Center. "So hopefully the churning of the ocean and the currents will quickly disperse this so that it gets to very dilute concentrations relatively quickly."

It doesn't even amount to a "drop in a bucket".

A quick reminder that the pacific coast of Honshu is now quite contaminated. What minuscule testing of the seafood there is reveals it is not safe to feed children. No more tainted water please. kThxBye.

@Elbuda Mexicano

And they want us to yell ganbarou Tohoku?? With fish sashimi and a side order of RADIATION??

Look on the bright side, any germs in your food would be killed by the radiation.

What a mess...