TEPCO to build undersea tunnel to release Fukushima water; gov't to buy marine products

Government will buy the marine products...and what? Serve them in school lunches perhaps?

Japan's rubric for the last 70-odd years.... if in doubt.... lay concrete....

I recommend that the tritium laced water be used to make a giant moat around the Diet building and everyday the MPs have to swim from shore to work.

I think it will make a great new attraction for the Tokyo site seer!

TritMoat kun character coming right up !

the Japanese government said Tuesday it will buy marine products...

TEPCO should buy the products. Period.

the size and details of the envisaged fund are yet to be determined,

That's usually the case with slush funds.

Of course they want to work closely with the pro-nuclear International Atomic Energy Agency. Wouldn't want any real critique of your plan from say, ecologists.

so in other words..

sweep it under the rug

gov't to buy marine products

What's the Japanese for "Let them eat sashimi!"? It's not cynicism to suggest that the LDP's future Fukushima fish haul will never land on a plate in any of the expensive restaurants they habitually dine at.

It will stretch 1 km east from the plant out to sea, releasing the water into an area of the ocean where no fishing rights are in place, according to the sources.

Yeah, because the contaminated water will just stay there, and of course fish don’t move.

Why Oh Why doesn't the international community stand up to this ridiculous plan that Japan has come up with after 10 years?

Where is public outcry?

The Japanese Government is 100% wrong on this.

It's everyone's ocean.

if only the planet could defend itself

Never trusted TEPCO and never will.

JeffLee  06:57 am JST

the Japanese government said Tuesday it will buy marine products...

TEPCO should buy the products. Period.

TEPCO’s majority shareholder is the Japanese government!

Meanwhile, the Japanese government said Tuesday it will buy marine products as an emergency step to support fishermen if the planned discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea causes damage to their sales.

You mean "we, the taxpayers" will be buying these radioactive marine products. And what happens to these products after the sale? Put into the onigiris sold in convenience stores so no one knows?

so it can directly spill into the ocean for 500 years or whatnot

So they think that this radioactive water is just going to stay in the area that does not have fishing rights, do they? Hhhhmmmm? Are they being serious? And another thing, buying fish products, and then what? Rename it as from Hokkaido and snick it in to our the food chain? Or are they going to make pet food and poison our pets?

It doesn't matter where it comes out or how 'diluted' it is, Tepco (and thereby, Nihon) are STILL 'pooing' in the swimming pool that all the rest of us must use...and why should the People of Japan buy and pay for damaged goods, whether actual or "reputational", rather than the management and shareholders of Tepco whose foolish design is the most proximal CAUSE of this disaster? This is one of the worst aspects of Corporate ANYWHERE this form of corruption exists, that the main perps of disastrous Corporate error or even deliberate injury (see: Sacklers) somehow escape serious consequences for their actions, inactions, or serious failures of judgement.

The government will also instruct TEPCO to show a specific framework for compensation at an early date to work...

TEPCO.... compensation...early?

Sorry those words just don't go into the same sentence .. despicable TEPCO managment are still to this date denying payout claims to Daiichi disaster evac

Usual pattern of the JGov/Inc. combine. Use tragedies for sympathy points and subsidies and deny relief to the actual victims. The black rain survivors, Minamata....

I agree with Zichi and Jeff Lee. If it absolutely has to be released, have TEPCO pay for any compensation and take it out to sea and disperse the release, don't do it in a concentrated area. How about Tokyo Bay? Maybe Nagatocho will think twice and begin to understand what the people of Tohoku are fearing.

@Eric It isn't great but apparently I read the radioactivity being released only has a half-life of 3 days. So if the marine products are not consumed for 3 days after being caught, shouldn't be a problem......... If they are telling the truth.

Tritium has a half-life of about 12.5 years. The rule is that a sample is safe when its radioactivity has dropped below detection limits. And that occurs at 10 half-lives - 125 years.

These products have been sitting in tanks for just a few years now.

There going to build a tunnel to leak radiation into the ocean? I dont know how or why this company is allowed to manage Fukushima? they caused this man made disaster and yet we are allowing this incompetent company to try and solve a problem they cant. Only in Japan. Geez!

"Meanwhile, the Japanese government said Tuesday it will buy marine products"

So, because we rightfully refuse to buy potentially harmful products, they'll use our taxes to do so so that a company fraught with a history of neglect and dangerous actions can continue to abuse the environment freely, and so the government can then turn around and force feed the products to children in school lunches? Wonderful. At least they won't be able to force other countries that shun the products as a result to buy them, despite Japan crying to International courts about it.

It will stretch 1 km east from the plant out to sea, releasing the water into an area of the ocean where no fishing rights are in place

Hopefully the tritium cooperates and doesn't creep into the fishing areas. I think if they strongly urge it to cooperate they have a good chance of success on this one.

the decision to release it offshore into the Pacific is aimed at preventing reputational damage to local marine products amid an outcry from fishermen.

Moron, it is not preventing reputational damage it is doing the exact opposite. How delusional can some people get. The rot of what was once a great country continues.

The radiation is going to accumulate not disperse.

if only the planet could defend itself

That planet will be fine. Humans, on the other hand, might not be.

While the level of the radioactive substance tritium that remains in the treated water will be diluted to below regulatory standards

In accordance with what regulatory standards? Ours? Weren't they changed in 2012 (or 2013?) in the direction of loosening? Or the European? Regulatory standards of some of our neighbours? Or IAEA?

It will stretch 1 km east from the plant out to sea, releasing the water into an area of the ocean where no fishing rights are in place, according to the sources.

In other words, what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.

But it seems more than strange to me that 1km east there would be no place to fish. Although, maybe that's true - maybe they're afraid to fish there for some reason.

And the idea that 1km will change the dilution is laughable to say the least. They might as well save money and dump it right at the power plant.

The government will offer thorough explanations over the safety of the treated water to businesses involved in processing, distribution and retailing of marine products in order to avoid prices of local marine products falling to unreasonably low levels.

Silencing the critics by overwhelming them with brochures, stacks of papers, creating an infantile mascot promoting thorough explanation...

Sometimes their Genius is almost frightening.

Simple Solution to this:

In the upcoming election vote the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan

Criticizing the plan, Yukio Edano, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said the government is "ignoring the people of Fukushima."

I'm opposed to nuclear power as I consider it the most polluting, most expensive and least green option. But in this case, the only viable option may be to dilute it at sea. The Pacific Ocean is very large indeed, and the radioactivity levels will be lower than other releases around the world. There may be other, cheaper options, and 1km is not very far out. Mid-ocean would make more sense. Get it over with, try and fix the continued danger that Fukushima Daiichi represents, and learn from this. Nuclear power is a problem not a solution.

The entire article is like a government run ad, shows nothing but contempt for the general consumer public. There is zero concern for the health of the citizens in the entire article. Typical Animal Farm.

Two birds with one stone, takes care of the Fukushima issue and since there are virtually no spaces left to concrete on land, they decided to start concreting under the ocean now. Got to keep that concrete and contruction industry going since the LDP needs those votes from the Inaka. Brilliant from TEPCO.

But seriously, WT?????? This demands an international outcry.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government said Tuesday it will buy marine products as an emergency step to support fishermen

And give it away to schools to feed to the kids. Awesome!

Meanwhile, the Japanese government said Tuesday it will buy marine products as an emergency step to support fishermen if the planned discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea causes damage to their sales.

The government will buy sea products fished in the area where treated water is released, in order to prevent reputational damage? What will the government do with the purchased marine products? Will it resell them somewhere else?  

I'm afraid if such naive efforts to reduce reputation damage may add fuel to fire to the contrary.

If the fish is not suitable for human consumption, will it end up in catfood or other petfood?

The government will temporarily buy and store products that can be frozen......and then what?

Where will it go?

History tells us they will allow the products to accumulate until they have no more space to store them, and then spend billions of yen looking for solutions for how to get rid. Finally they will build a tunnel under ground to siphon all the collected stuff away and dump it in a big hole. You know - out of sight, out of mind.

It isn't great but apparently I read the radioactivity being released only has a half-life of 3 days. So if the marine products are not consumed for 3 days after being caught, shouldn't be a problem......... If they are telling the truth.

In that case just dilute it, bottle it up and sell it - but make sure each bottle takes about 2 weeks to make it to the supermarket shelves.

If it's really not a problem, why not? Media campaign, characters, cute models etc.

Yeah, I don't trust them either.

TEPCO plans to apply to the Nuclear Regulation Authority for a review of the tunnel construction plan and begin preparatory work in the near future.

Yea great, as if we don't know how these government appointed experts or regulatory committees perform as if we have already forgotten how those on covid are doing.

Geez, Kyodo is not any better than a CCP run news agency. Zero view of an independent expert or environmental group.

@GBR48

I'm opposed to nuclear power as I consider it the most polluting, most expensive and least green option.

Totally agree we should be looking more towards geothermal solutions let the planet produce our needs volcanoes are a perfect source and Japan has many(270) https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/japan.html

But in this case, the only viable option may be to dilute it at sea. The Pacific Ocean is very large indeed, and the radioactivity levels will be lower than other releases around the world. There may be other, cheaper options, and 1km is not very far out. Mid-ocean would make more sense. Get it over with, try and fix the continued danger that Fukushima Daiichi represents, and learn from this. Nuclear power is a problem not a solution.

There are other solutions, however releasing it into the ocean is the cheapest and easiest solution. Even with building a 1km pipe.

A Kindai University Team produced a filter that removes Radioactive Tritium from water, of course it is expensive and time consuming and in the eyes of Tepco not worth it compared to just releasing it into the ocean

TEPCO to build undersea tunnel to release Fukushima water :

Is that the best option Tepco and the authorities can think of?

A kilometer away is not far from the coast, chances are marine lives would still be affected by radioactivity. Why will government buy the marine products?

It seems like the commenters, who propose the ship/tanker solution miss the fact that this is not one-time operation. The water will continue coming and being discharged to the ocean. Like forever. That's why they need a tunnel

Japan's nuclear industries-LDP complex still repeat lies and deceptions as before Fukushima disaster.

They emphasize the word "damage to reputation", deceive society as if health risk is nothing at all, and try to fabricate atmosphere as if consumers are evil.

Besides, they emphasize Tritium only, never mention that "treated water" they named contains other many kinds of radioactivity over safety standard. 

They insist that "treated water" is safe. but they never dump it to Tokyo bay.

Cleo-

Thankyou for pointing out to them that obviously the water is contaminated and a concern .

Seems like a whole lot of effort to dispose of something thats not dangerous.

People will believe anything but ultimately the proof is in the pudding.

create a system to prevent reputational damage from arising...

A Ministry of Propaganda, or perhaps Dentsu can lend the advertising and PR prowess to this.

If the fish is not suitable for human consumption, will it end up in catfood or other petfood?

It will end up wherever the money takes it.

If a fish is not suitable for human consumption, it is highly likely that it will be cut up and mixed with other fish that are suitable for human consumption.

This is what reportedly happened to a lot of contaminated rice and vegetables previously grown in Fukushima. Rice grown within the exclusion zone got mixed in with rice from outside the exclusion zone, and vegetables were mixed together and sold outside of Fukushima.

Just labeling them as being 'packaged in -city' rather than 'grown in -city' seems to be enough to get around any legalities.

It will stretch 1 km east from the plant out to sea, releasing the water into an area of the ocean where no fishing rights are in place, according to the sources.

Unbelievable, no fishing rights for the fishermen and what rights for the fishes ?, No free movement rights. Scary, that policy formation for a nation is entrusted to fools. These fools think everybody is so stupid to buy this bulls??t.

Out of sight, out of mind.

TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa told reporters that he will take the government's instruction "seriously," adding his company will announce plans for compensation and the water release "as early as possible."

How assuring from someone who is part of the old boys club, he is in the position he is now by venture of being a former bureaucrat with a golden parachute and who knows the kohais in the ministry would never ruffle the feathers of a senpai.

Some comments from posters above:

●　So, we won’t see the water.

●　Government will buy the marine products...and what? Serve them in school lunches perhaps?

●　so in other words.. sweep it under the rug

These were my exact first thoughts. If I and other people think this, then TEPCO and the government really are stupid, as well as selfish and corrupt. And incompetent. And nasty.

More than 1 million tons of treated water has accumulated at the complex

Why not just recycle the treated water to cool the melted fuel, instead of contaminating more and more water?

If the water isn't fit to be recycled within the reactor, how can it possibly be fit to be 'recycled' into seawater?

As for the guvmint buying up (with taxpayer money) all the seafood the people (=the taxpayer) refuses to buy, why not just tell the fishermen to stop fishing in those waters (basically, the whole of the right-hand side of Japan?) and compensate them for their loss? The fishermen could then spend their time doing something more constructive instead of killing fish destined to be discarded.

The process removes most radioactive materials, including strontium and cesium

Considering the totally moronic way they guvmint is trying to deal with the tritium and the fish, I shudder to think what is being done with the strontium and caesium once they're removed.

To grasp how domestic consumers and people overseas view the safety of the treated water, the government will also conduct an online survey and create a system to prevent reputational damage from arising, the officials said.

Doublespeak?

As we all know ‘dumping radioactive waste’ must not lead to ‘reputational damage’ only ‘cancer’

I bet Elon Musk would have a better Idea.

The problem is water continuously leaking into the building, and not "just recycling" a limited amount of water. Things are a bit more complicated than you imagine

I'm sure things are more complicated, which is why I asked... If the problem were just water continuously leaking into the building and getting contaminated with radioactivity, that would be one thing, but the article mentions water pumped into the ruined reactors at the Fukushima plant to cool the melted fuel, so it's obviously not just a problem of natural water leakage, they're actively pumping water in. So why not pump in the treated water? Can water containing tritium not be used as a coolant?

zichi

Gen IV reactors are not available.

Gen III are and are by magnitudes safer than Gen II.

185-925 Bq per cubic meter of water is the concentration of tritium occurring naturally in water. That's thousands of time more than the concentration of the existing tritium stored in Fukushima when diluted in the ocean

Interesting. So the water from the naturally-occurring rainwater and groundwater that leaked into the reactor building, in the process of being irradiated and then ‘treated’, ended up with less tritium in it than when it started out? Where has that tritium gone?

And why are the people supposedly in charge of managing all this water, who would surely love to be able to say that the water they want to dispose of is pristine and totally pure, why are these people fretting over not being able to remove the tritium that is already below natural levels?

Why don’t they point out that it’s below natural levels, and dump it in the harbour? Why is so much tax money being spent on treating, storing and disposing of huge amounts of water that is already purer than the naturally-occurring water in the sea? Why are they pledging to buy up and dispose of the fish? Why aren’t they selling it as Fish Raised in Water That is Purer Than Pure?

Just sad to see the treatment of toxic waste being handled in such an inconsiderate manner and negatively impacting the already fragile environment only to make its way back into our food chain.

the Tritium question has been addressed ... it occurs naturally and is not dangerous in the concentration we are talking about here.

Then why on earth is the government spending all this tax money on building a kilometre-long tunnel under the sea, and paying fishermen to catch fish no one wants?

Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper and easier, not to mention environmentally friendlier, to demonstrate to the public that the water poses no danger at all and that the fish are perfectly safe to eat?

Why are they deliberately perpetuating the idea that the treated water is still dangerous?

It doesn't make sense.

Is one kilometer (.62 mi.) long enough?

While the level of the radioactive substance tritium that remains in the treated water will be diluted to below regulatory standards

Who in their right mind is going to believe this, what am I saying there are lots here that do.

Under the measures, the government will temporarily buy and store products that can be frozen or help fishermen expand sales channels for those that cannot be frozen, if demand for domestically produced seafood drops sharply in and outside Japan, the officials said.

The government is not running any money creating business, it is my taxes and yours that is going into funding this madness.

To grasp how domestic consumers and people overseas view the safety of the treated water, the government will also conduct an online survey and create a system to prevent reputational damage from arising, the officials said.

Another good example of bureaucrats clearly not serving the public but funnelling taxpayer hard earn funds to special interest companies. Outsource the online survey costing billions of yen to a company run by a special interest.

The government will offer thorough explanations over the safety of the treated water to businesses involved in processing, distribution and retailing of marine products in order to avoid prices of local marine products falling to unreasonably low levels.

Brilliant, Profits to businesses trumps the health of the entire nation. 2021, feudalism at its best.

Finally they will build a tunnel under ground to siphon all the collected stuff away and dump it in a big hole. You know - out of sight, out of mind.

How about it being donated to some poor country and killing to birds with one stone. Good international PR and discarding for free what is not needed.

The government is eyeing creating a fund that can be flexibly operated to buy seafood from Fukushima Prefecture and other parts of Japan, according to a plan compiled to help fishermen threatened by reputational damage, government officials said.

The almost unanimous disgust and revulsion at this government/industry synergy is encouraging. Wish it were more widespread though in the mass consciousness.

TEPCO being such a black company, who would believe once the tunnel is built they will release "qualified" treated water? These guys cannot be trusted.

If they have to dump it simply load it to a ship and dump it 100x km away but No! wait, they want to make a tunnel so that nobody can measure how much radioactive water has been dumped and for how many times. Everything will look calm and clean from outside.

TEPCO plans to dilute the treated water with a large amount of seawater to reduce its tritium concentration to less than 1,500 becquerels per liter.

That is very layman way for 21st century. I have seen similar protocols for dumping acid/alkaline solutions in lab sink. Pathetic!

"It's time to become vegetarian."

Anyone hankering for veggies from Fukushima?

10 years later and TEPCO and the Japanese government still have the capacity to shock us.

How is decommissioning of all the other nuclear plants in Japan going?

They all take several years so I hope it is happening fast. All ticking time bombs.

So important to always look at origin of vegetables in the supermarket and to never eat at restaurants

A tunnel through bedrock? What possibly could go wrong there?

Here is a simple idea, make a plastic tube thats 300mm in diameter after the first Km drill 25mm dia holes in it every 1m, and lay the plastic tube onto the sea bed from a small ship for 15-20km out to sea, the water will disperse evenly out into the sea, with no potential hot spots. this could start in a few weeks time, let allown 2-3 year befor the project is even starts, and it would cost a small fraction of the large concrete pipe. you could place monitoring buoys along the pipe to monitor any abnormal levels that occur, it would also tell fishing boats where not to fish with large drag nets.

Kapuna

A tunnel through bedrock? What possibly could go wrong there?

Yes, tell us what. Where do tunnels usually go.... through air?

Didn't a Deputy Prime Minister said the water is safe to drink? How come until now we didn't see him gulping down the stuff? Can save so much money from having to store that H2O then dump it into the ocean.

Should Tepco use Taiheiyō as its own personal septic system? Sure, why not? This instance of the ecosphere is on its way out anyway. Maybe the next one will produce actual 'intelligence'. My vote is for the Baboons if they survive, but Nature is so truly weird it could even be the whales or something us 'dinosaurs' can not even imagine.

if only the planet could defend itself

Against the most invasive and destructive organism in known geological history? Um...have you noticed the weather lately? Seem a bit angrier, does it?

The US will object too it release, and they will do nothing

America has probably dumped more poisons into the oceans even than collective, Corporate, radioactivity certainly*, and a complaint from America would be as much an hypocrisy as American 'history' in general. Don't forget that G. Washington, T. Jefferson, J. Hancock, that corrupt and treasonous financial crook Hamilton, et alia were their generation's 'terrorists', and could be said to have been 'installed by a foreign government' given that the French Army won the American War of Independence, albeit Washington accepted all of the credit while the French got the Guillotine as their reward for bankrupting their country to do so. History is much weirder than the lies we are taught as children and most believe all of their lives.

*Ask the people of the Marshall Islands who used to live on Bikini

How much will this cost the taxpayer?

They can follow the lead of the US administration and claim that this is “infrastructure” and “investment” and print and spend no?

Does this mean we have to continue subsidizing TEPCO with the "special reconstruction tax" for longer than needed?

Tepco u have created enough problems, please do not do anything under the sea. Please consume aLL FUKUSHIMA water at Y home .

U.N.B.E.L.I.E.V.A.B.L.E.

Make that number one on the "unique" to Japan roster.

There is a safe way of disposing of tritium. You need to electrolyze it out of the water, release the tritium as just the hydrogen it is. it will migrate up through the atmosphere and in to space. It rises at the incredible rate of 20 m/s! in seven hours it is clear of the atmosphere, never to return to earth. Probably needs to be done at night to stop solar radiation from causing an excess of recombination. And it would cost a lot for the electricity to do it with.... They could just put up a windmill and use the power from it to do all the work. it might take 10 or 15 years, but so what. It's already been 10 years.

I'm just sayin, probably 10 times cheaper than the existing plan, and 50 times safer.

William Brown

And it would cost a lot for the electricity to do it with.... They could just put up a windmill and use the power from it to do all the work. it might take 10 or 15 years, but so what. It's already been 10 years.

Oh wow. That would be one heck of a windmill. Can you tell us more about that miracle mill?

Peter Neil

The biological half life of the highly diluted tritium in fish and other sea life is less than two (2) days.

I am completely with you as to the unwarranted scaremongering about releasing tritium into the ocean, however I do not understand what this "biological half life" is. Tritium has a half-life of 12 years; why would that change if it is in organic material?

As a early .. Compensation?

Make it as soon as possible

And make it sure it will have compensation to all evacuees not only for the fishermen

WillIB-

the water is contaminated and therefore possible toxic and harmful otherwise there would be no need for a discussion on this topic.

Regardless of the information thats offered of how safe the disposal of the waste is on the environment or safety concerns of the food chain there are those that comment on this discussion that actually care about this issue.

Is it safe the fish market will suffer as no one wants to eat Fukushima related nuclear contaminated sea food. Bad idea the should transport the water to Mars instead

People will buy, they have been brainwashed that the expensive kokusan is the safest and the best.

Choosing the worst possible solution yet again.

Brian Wheway

Here is a simple idea, make a plastic tube thats 300mm in diameter after the first Km drill 25mm dia holes in it every 1m, and lay the plastic tube onto the sea bed from a small ship for 15-20km out to sea,

OK, while we are into backyard engineeering here, here is another idea: They have this big harbour right in front of the installation, which I think is not used now. How about building a wall to close it and let the water flow in there? There there might be some leackage, but fundamentally they whey would have a huge reservoir where the water can sit until they either have convinced the science deniers that it actually can be released, or found a revolutionary way to remove the tritium. Maybe there is a reason that is not considered, I can not think of one.

The biological half life of the highly diluted tritium in fish and other sea life is less than two (2) days.

More than 170 million Americans drink water every day with higher concentrations of tritium than the diluted amount that will be released from Fukushima.

But don't let those facts get in the way of your emotional panic.

Kototama no sakiwau kuni

Just sad to see the treatment of toxic waste being handled in such an inconsiderate manner and negatively impacting the already fragile environment only to make its way back into our food chain.

Reality check: This is not toxic waste, and the water has no effect on the environment.

Kyo wa heiwa dayo ne

the water is contaminated and therefore possible toxic and harmful otherwise there would be no need for a discussion on this topic.

It has been thoroughly treated and is probably cleaner than your tap water. The only thing that remains is the Tritium which is almost impossible to remove because it chemically acts as Hydrogen. And the Tritium question has been addressed ... it occurs naturally and is not dangerous in the concentration we are talking about here.

The US will object too it release, and they will do nothing

Easy answer is stop eating Fisk and eat your steroids injected chicken/pork/ beef. The radiation will kill off marine life either way

It isn't great but apparently I read the radioactivity being released only has a half-life of 3 days. So if the marine products are not consumed for 3 days after being caught, shouldn't be a problem......... If they are telling the truth.

While the level of the radioactive substance tritium that remains in the treated water will be diluted to below regulatory standards, the decision to release it offshore into the Pacific is aimed at preventing reputational damage to local marine products amid an outcry from fishermen.

LOL, what is that even supposed to mean?'The proverbial "out of sight, out of mind"? The crowd that protests the release of the excess water into the Pacific will not stop protesting because it is done via a tunnel. Grood grief.

cleo

Why not just recycle the treated water to cool the melted fuel, instead of contaminating more and more water?

The problem is water continuously leaking into the building, and not "just recycling" a limited amount of water. Things are a bit more complicated than you imagine.

GBR48

I'm opposed to nuclear power as I consider it the most polluting, most expensive and least green option

Actually, it is not. While the growing water tank farm is visually impressive, the actual damage from the accident is very limited. As for current excess water, the tritium amount is very small, and tritium is naturally occuring in the environment. And these were Gen II reactors, aka very outdated designs. With Gen IV, none of these problems are even possible. The "most polluting, most expensive and least green option" are solar panels and wind farms (if you care to look at their entire lifecycle, instead of those PR pictures of "green" installations surrounded by flowers, cute babies, and singing birds.

zichi

But the cost of nuclear energy is too high at $8,000 per kW so private companies can no longer afford to build them.

Private companies can certainly not run "green" installations commercially without subsidies, so I am not sure where that arguments leads.

If safe Gen III and IV nuclear power turns out to be expensive, electricity prices will have to rise. At least nuclear power is available long term and environmentally friendly, unlike the current "green" pipe dreams.

It's always depressing to read the majority of comments. All you get is talk, talk, talk. Mostly water over the dam talk, with only a few people who think towards what can be done, not what do I feel about the past, or feel about this, or feel about that, or feel about them. That kind of thinking makes people useless in companies and organizations that do things or build things.

Since many of you didn't study or stay awake in physics or chemistry, you have no history of solving problems other than which train to take.

It unnecessary to put down other members of this forum.

The truth can sting a little.

If you think I wrote something that's not correct, why don't you correct it with some facts? You're just another person who brings no science or facts to the discussion.

And you people who down voted what I wrote should bring some facts. Hiding behind a down vote proves nothing. The truth comes to your door and you tell it to go away. The facts are all the matter.

cleo

Then why on earth is the government spending all this tax money on building a kilometre-long tunnel under the sea, and paying fishermen to catch fish no one wants?\

Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper and easier, not to mention environmentally friendlier, to demonstrate to the public that the water poses no danger at all and that the fish are perfectly safe to eat?

Can you spell PR?

Addressing facts is one thing, addressing mass hysteria is something else.

Is it safe the fish market will suffer as no one wants to eat Fukushima related nuclear contaminated sea food. Bad idea the should transport the water to Mars instead

It's always depressing to read the majority of comments. All you get is talk, talk, talk. Mostly water over the dam talk, with only a few people who think towards what can be done, not what do I feel about the past, or feel about this, or feel about that, or feel about them. That kind of thinking makes people useless in companies and organizations that do things or build things.

Since many of you didn't study or stay awake in physics or chemistry, you have no history of solving problems other than which train to take.

185-925 Bq per cubic meter of water is the concentration of tritium occurring naturally in water. That's thousands of time more than the concentration of the existing tritium stored in Fukushima when diluted in the ocean, even without further treating the stored water.

The ocean water (and anything living within it) will receive a radiation exposure of just under 0.0000007 mGy every year.

Every person here is exposed to 10 times more radiation every hour just sitting in your living room than from an entire year of floating in the ocean after the release of the stored water.

Out of sight, out of mind.

If the water is not radioactive, as they say; we could just throw it on Japanese lakes and rivers.

Enjoy sushi while you still can.

After TEPCO start releasing radioactive water, the only safe fish is the one from the Atlantic ocean.

I guarantee you most countries will ban all fish import from Japan after TEPCO start releasing water.