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TEPCO says impact from release of Fukushima water will be minimal

51 Comments
By Mari Yamaguchi

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51 Comments
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No reason to doubt if they say so.

-9 ( +5 / -14 )

Minimal for some might not be minimal for others.

9 ( +13 / -4 )

Minimal impact on the environment? How much is too much?

Theyve been staying this water is not contaminated and is safe to drink. Now, they are stating it will have an impact on the environment. They have spouted so much gobble about this water it’s difficult to believe anything they say.

11 ( +14 / -3 )

According to my simulation TEPCO shouldn’t be trusted with anything and should be regulated severely.

24 ( +25 / -1 )

What dose of radiation is safe?

There isn’t one…

6 ( +13 / -7 )

What dose of radiation is safe?

Nothing is free of radiation, to say something is "safe" the requirement is to prove a risk equivalent to background levels of ratiation.

-3 ( +8 / -11 )

Of course its safe to release the water... Dilution is the solution.

Its toxicity is very low. Stop the panic!

-6 ( +12 / -18 )

The problem is, all those values of radiation doses are of course not so much dangerous if viewed separately. Now sum them up, base radiation from ground Radon, X-rays at the doctor’s and dentistry, airplane flights etc, and suddenly you are already in more trouble and danger. It’s not that you’re glowing at night or fall unconscious and die, but catching divers cancers a few years earlier than on average won’t be so much nicer too.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Properly diluted and further spread over a large area so no accidental reconcentration would be perfectly safe if they do as promised to thoroughly reduce the other radioactive elements but a pipe just 1 kilometre off shore is at best a publicity disaster waiting to happen.

I have to agree there is no indication the management of TEPCO are up to the job. A complete clean sweep of the entire senior management team just might have changed things.

Kurisupisu, you ere subject to radiation of various types every day of your life, our world is naturally radioactive. The sea into which this will be dispersed is already naturally radioactive which is why if properly diluted and dispersed widely enough this will have zero impact.

The caveat of course is that it is done properly.

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

Well of course TEPCO would say that.

14 ( +17 / -3 )

Weak scumbags

5 ( +9 / -4 )

external radiation from the environment and internal radiation from ingesting it is not the same thing. This gets into the food chain through the bottom crawlers and builds up.

even if it does cause no damage, the damage the to the local fisheries through poor image is terrible.

They want to push more nuke power as low carbon emmissions, is this how they will manage it? "sorry, we need to pollute the environment... for the environment"

7 ( +10 / -3 )

It would be better to take this waste to the middle of the Pacific and dump it there, where it would be diluted to such an extent it would be literally unmeasurable. Only taking it 1km out from the shore is inviting worries and objections.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

TEPCO says impact from release of Fukushima water will be minimal

Tell that to the phytoplankton

13 ( +13 / -0 )

If its minimal realease it in Tokyo bay!

9 ( +10 / -1 )

TEPCO is telling a big lie that can be diluted with less hot air and more truthfulness.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Other than telling big lies, what else can TEPCO do?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The ignorance of what is in the water and how dangerous it actually isn't is the reason the water hasn't been released. You could safely swim in the tanks without any ill effects. There are far more dangerous things we use everyday without the panic of the "deadly Fukushima water".

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

I'm old enough to remember 3/11, when TEPCO announced that the explosion we all saw on television was just steam escaping and there was no chance at all of a meltdown.

You'll forgive me if I maintain a healthy scepticism.

18 ( +18 / -0 )

TEPCO says impact from release of Fukushima water will be minimal

Compared to what?

4 ( +7 / -3 )

TEPCO is the very same company that Lied to the world and said that things were under control when they were NOT back in 2011.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

Releasing treated water is not the same as releasing radioactive water. As long as the water is genuinely monitored, hopefully by an international team, what Tepco wants to do sounds reasonable. Perhaps Korea and China could be invited to partake in the monitoring process.

The average person is exposed to more than one millisievert of naturally occurring radiation per year, mostly from airborne radon. If Tepco is to be believed, the treated water will expose anyone in the immediate area of the release to less than that amount of radiation.

Interestingly, hot springs are very popular in Japan, and they are also some of the places on Earth where one can find the highest levels of naturally occurring background radiation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4030667/

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

The russians, mater in nuclear tech, already said so next year.

This is political posturing, China and S. Korea already did it.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Safe as !

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Always fascinating to read the emotional but scientifically inaccurate posts to the very mention of nuclear.

Mr. Kipling and 1glenn are quite right.

@short memories, if properly diluted the concentration is no higher than that to which it is being added, therefor there will be no greater accumulation in bottom feeders or any other fish than would otherwise occur.

The reliability and trustworthiness of TEPCO and its management however has been demonstrated to be at the least questionable.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Well, if anyone is still buying seafood from Japan, now is the time to stop. And some nations will, and Japan will cry to the ICJ (which the will suddenly claim has the power to apply pressure and change things) that it is unfair business if nations stop importing Japanese seafood. I say a world-wide ban should be in order if they do this. The impact will be "minimal" for TEPCO, if anything, but MASSIVE for the fisheries.

2 ( +9 / -7 )

Using an artificial intelligence simulation of data to predict the impact of radioactive waste being dumped into the ocean is an impossible and incorrect scenario because when discussing mathematics concerning dilution and solutions that 1+1 does not equal 2 .

So whatever ridiculous numbers they schemed up are just shenanigans of lies to justify their irresponsible use of the ocean.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

The Pacific Ocean is MASSIVE...we all know this.

However, there has been a presumption that the radioactive 'fallout' from the Fukushima reactors would safely dilute and affect nothing.

That is NOT TRUE!

Strontium 90 and Caesium 137 has been detected in the waters off the USA coast for years. It has also been detected in Californian wine.

The sea life, by the shores, like blue starfish, sea anemones, kelp types, all manner of sea life and shore line life have disappeared.

The seal population birth rate has dropped by 50%, etc.

The isotopes have been identified as coming from the Fukushima reactors.

This is not new news...this happened YEARS AGO!

One comment here hit the nail on the head, "phytoplankton".

The smallest creatures got wiped out, that then precipitated the collapsed of the sea life, for the smaller is eaten by the bigger animal, once that chain is broken, there is species collapse.

For YEARS water has been pumped onto the reactors and allowed to flow into the sea!

This isn't a Tepco problem, it isn't a Japan Government problem, it is a WORLD problem.

But, no one seems to be taking notice, no one seems to care, least of all the developed world's governments.

They are playing the three monkeys, 'see no evil...'

All in denial, while the Pacific Ocean dies.

The question is...

WHY????

1 ( +5 / -4 )

I don't know why everyone is so negative. They did a lot of research and confirmed that impact will be minimal. Just trust the science guys!

Edgy.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The solution to pollution is not always dilution especially if whatever your trying to dilute is in saltwater.

Salt pushes and pulls and the elements that were once diluted by rainwater become drawn together again.

Rainwater is basically a distilled water with trace elements.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

So whatever ridiculous numbers they schemed up are just shenanigans of lies to justify their irresponsible use of the ocean

True I think... i saw a graphic online with a lot of bright red and orange lines so this MUST mean the radioactive levels are massive and that it is a huge conspiracy.

In addition I have discovered I have a third nipple after swimming in the sea and all my friends are teasing me and calling me Scaramanga.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Bill AdamsToday  06:47 pm JST

It would be better to take this waste to the middle of the Pacific and dump it there, where it would be diluted to such an extent it would be literally unmeasurable. Only taking it 1km out from the shore is inviting worries and objections.

Yes, load it all onto an old tanker and sink it in the deepest part of the Pacific. I doubt that the effect would be measurable but am happy to contradicted by real facts.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

pug boy!Today  10:15 pm JST

The Pacific Ocean is MASSIVE...we all know this.

However, there has been a presumption that the radioactive 'fallout' from the Fukushima reactors would safely dilute and affect nothing.

That is NOT TRUE!

Strontium 90 and Caesium 137 has been detected in the waters off the USA coast for years. It has also been detected in Californian wine.

Farallon Islands perhaps? "Between 1946 and 1970, approximately 47,800 large containers of low-level radioactive waste were dumped in the Pacific Ocean west of San Francisco. ... The area of the sea floor where the drums lie is commonly referred to as the “Farallon Islands Radioactive Waste Dump” (FIRWD)."

Google for more.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

LMFAO "NOT ALL EXPERTS" some experts say the long-term impact on marine life from low-dose exposures is still unknown.

If "MINIMAL" amounts of an oil spill can kill, and wreck havoc on marine life just think what a "MINIMAL" amount of radioactive water could do on marine life.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Since all of tepco said so, please have free water for all your families and friends.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

If "MINIMAL" amounts of an oil spill can kill, and wreck havoc on marine life just think what a "MINIMAL" amount of radioactive water could do on marine life.

Oil messes with marine life because it doesn't mix with the water, and cannot dilute. Radiated water will dilute into the oceans, diffusing the radiation.

You're comparing apples and oranges. Oil and water.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Larr FlintNov. 18  07:47 pm JST

I don't know why everyone is so negative. They did a lot of research and confirmed that impact will be minimal. Just trust the science guys!

Beautiful!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

All those thinking that somehow radiation (any radiation) is safe, need more education.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

All those thinking that somehow radiation (any radiation) is safe, need more education.

We are waiting for your wisdom. However after the quote above I'm pretty sure you don't have any to offer.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Strontium 90 and Cs-137 in North America comes almost entirely from the fallout of nuclear bomb testing in the 50s and 60s, and close to none comes from Fukushima or Chernobyl.

The problems in the ocean have almost nothing to do with what happened at Fukushima, but are closely related to global warming, over fishing, unregulated dumping, and the runoff of excess fertilizers from farmland.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TEPCO says impact from release of Fukushima water will be minimal

It will be zero, but the media hype about it will be astronomical.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

1glenn

Strontium 90 and Cs-137 in North America comes almost entirely from the fallout of nuclear bomb testing in the 50s and 60s, and close to none comes from Fukushima or Chernobyl.

Strontium 90 and Cs 127 have a half live of 28 years and 30 years respectively. Which means remains from the 50 are minuscule now, and will be gone during our lifetime. It is a non-issue, just like the minuscule tritium amounts from Fukushima.

The problems in the ocean have almost nothing to do with what happened at Fukushima, but are closely related to global warming, over fishing, unregulated dumping, and the runoff of excess fertilizers from farmland.

Totally agree. E.g. what the unregulated Chinese fishing fleets are doing around the world is shocking. Strangely, our media seem uninterested.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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