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Aso repeats claim that treated Fukushima water is good to drink

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It really is safe. Our tap water ha more tritium in it.

Bottle and brand it. I will buy it for making tea.

-35 ( +8 / -43 )

Claims are meaningless, actions speak louder than words.

Drink the damn water!

43 ( +46 / -3 )

Then please drink Aso. Talk is cheap. Maybe this will dispel the "harmful rumors" that the people of Tohoku fear.

30 ( +35 / -5 )

Complete Aso.

31 ( +35 / -4 )

Aso,you have been called out.

Go ahead and take a few gulps of it.

Totally busted.

30 ( +34 / -4 )

Russia has kept silent through all of this. The safer option. They obviously do not want to be called hypocrites or to be asked about those submarine nuclear reactors that they dumped in the Arctic and the Japan Sea. (Open knowledge)

-9 ( +8 / -17 )

He really should just go ahead and drink it then!

26 ( +29 / -3 )

Have no idea if that water is safe to drink. I'm not educated enough on the subject. But to be fair, treated water get released in the ocean by many plants around the world, including Chinese and S. Korean. Would Xi and Moon be ok to have a glass of it? I mean, it end in the ocean as well.

-9 ( +5 / -14 )

Aso, put your mouth where your money is and have a night of drinking fukushima 10 year plastic barrel aged highballs with your oyaji buds.

28 ( +32 / -4 )

@ TokyoJoe Well said!!!

12 ( +18 / -6 )

Perhaps Aso should do a “John Gummer” publicity stunt with his children and drink the water?

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Aso repeats claim that treated Fukushima water is good to drink

Claim all you want. Actions speak louder than words. Kampai!

22 ( +25 / -3 )

The ‘fighto!ng spirit of the nationalists’ will soon assert themselves on this topic. Yet, Aso has again ‘stuck his foot in it’ with:

*- “Aso refuted Zhao's criticism that the Pacific Ocean is not "Japan's sewer," countering, "So, is it China's sewer? It's everyone's sea." *

*- Aso has often come under fire for gaffes and controversial statements.” -**

Great! Aso just made another gaffe. Hopefully, this “It's everyone's sea.” will be used against him when trying to assert rights to disputed islands and names of bodies of water.

In the meantime, let him joint ‘the other Aso’s in the Diet for ‘a toast’ to Japan’s future, at the continued expense of its people, with this ‘Safe to Drink water’

13 ( +16 / -3 )

Good lord! What a fool!!

First - if he really believes the undiluted water is OK to drink then he should drink it.

Second - I am not discounting the risk associated with releasing water into the ocean however discussing drinking the treated water is not a viable comparison as when the water is released into the ocean it will be diluted with millions of gallons of sea water.

Crazyiness all around.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

If the water is safe to drink, dump it in one of your Japanese lakes. Don't make the world pay for your inept and deplorable clean up of Fukushima Nuclear Plant that could have been handled much more professionally by any measure and/or standard.

18 ( +21 / -3 )

Mr. Aso, put your money where your mouth is, or rather the glass of Fukushima-treated water.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

This guy is a real piece of work! What the J-Gov't needs to realize is the "Japanese panel of experts" they use is just that.."A Japanese Panel of experts, that are not so expert". If this was safe why are they not dumping it right now? I want to see Aso drink it on NHK. Not a glass of water someone hands him, but show LIVE on camera Aso drinking water DIRECTLY from the tank.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

I used to think he was the worst PM, Japan ever had till I realized that Olympic guy was even worse. Still second worst is well deserved and unfortunately he is still at the top echelon of power and has been for all these years after his uninspiring turn as PM.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Releasing diluted tritium water into the ocean is standard practice throughout the world. I’m afraid many of the posters here seem to lack science literacy,

-9 ( +4 / -13 )

So we have the perfect solution to deal with this water which will make everyone happy : bottle it and sell it, moreover since now you even have a cute mascot to promote it. People which do not want the water in the sea will be happy.

People which consider the water safe for consumption will happily buy their bottles.

Money will be generated to finance recovery.

Ecosystem will just have to deal with the leaked water and water which could potentially manage to get throught the ice wall.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Aso is a complete moron who can serve his country best by keeping his mouth shut. The sooner the LDP put him out to pasture (with a few others I can think of) the better off Japan will be.

That said, the discharge of water containg Tritium levels below the IAEA standards, and with the IAEA's support and monitoring is transparent, and supported by the United States is a non -issue. The practice is common throughout the world and both South Korea and China have done so.

South Korea and China are using this just another political tool to bash Japan, and for China, an American ally. The sheer hypocrisy of Chinna complaining when they are the global leader in air and water pollution makes this clearly obvious.

Let's not confuse our dislike for Aso with supporting the Chinese dictatorship.

5 ( +15 / -10 )

I wonder if Zhao Lijian would drink a glass of water taken from the lower reaches of any Chinese river just before it meets the sea?

1 ( +10 / -9 )

Aso drink it,and ask your servants to prepare some tasty food exclusively with that water.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

We'd have to take old Aso's Fukushima Kool-Aid Margarita with an extra large dose of salt to believe he would ever attempt to prove its purity by quaffing a glass of that Fukushima fizzy water for public consumption.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

This is a world safety issue. Not to be joke with.

5 ( +12 / -7 )

I agree with fellow commenters. Be a man of your words Aso and drink up.

Directly from the tap and on live tv please.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

Question: Both China and Korea have been running nuclear powerplants located nearby East China Sea and Sea of Japan. Lots of amount of water must be used to cool down reactors. What then do they handle such "contaminated" water?

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

As a good example, please drink for by all by yourselves as proof until release.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

With such a long history of gaffes, why has he stayed so long in such a high position in the cabinet. In many countries, he would have been removed for a while, but here friendship comes first

11 ( +11 / -0 )

The SK officials should be honest and consistent.

South Korean government report found no effect from tritium release

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/04/15/national/fukushima-south-korea-3-11-nuclear-energy-radiation-radioactive-water/

2 ( +6 / -4 )

If needing to choose one, I would drink the water from Fukushima over the regular tap water in China which is undrinkable.

In China, the water you drink is as dangerous as the air you breathe

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jun/02/china-water-dangerous-pollution-greenpeace

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Aso should drink 8 glasses every day so he can prove us all wrong.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Aso wouldn't drink that contaminated water even if treated and he knows it.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Two years before they start releasing the treated water... so how about Aso drinks a glass of it every day for the next two years just to make sure it’s safe before they start releasing it.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The burden of proof is on you Mr. Aso, DRINK IT.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The man is an idiot.

Agree, spread it around Japan’s lakes and reservoirs if it is so harmless, then you negate all the international criticism in one fell swoop! Problem solved.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

What a tool this Aso is? Typical of him to double down with a poker face.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Both China and Korea have been running nuclear powerplants located nearby East China Sea and Sea of Japan. Lots of amount of water must be used to cool down reactors. What then do they handle such "contaminated" water?

Look honey, no-one ever complained about Japan's nuclear reactors prior to the world's largest and worst nuclear meltdown happening in 2011. That's because the reactors around the world have closed circuits for their cooling system. It's akin to a car's radiator. The water does not go into the combustion chambers and carry carbon monoxide out. Similarly, water does not run through to the core of the reactors and touch naked uranium. It is nowhere near as dangerous as water that was directly exposed to radiation as in Fuku's case.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

I kindly ask fishermen, environmental activists or journalists to investigate as to where spent water is actually going or "disappearing" after cooling down nuclear reactors active in China and Korea. Apparently they don't even have storage systems to hold spent water as Fukushima does. Perhaps the TEPCO could learn from the Chinese counterpart about how to make the used water clean or drinkable or "vanish into thin air" miraculously.

The IAEA approves the water release of spent water after sufficiently diluted. I understand that China, much conscious of public health, might not want to follow such a lax directive. So teach me how exactly they handle water from local Chinese nuclear power plants.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

By the way, Taiwan was complaining as well. Why aren't the nationalists complaining about them complaining? Truth hurts.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

That's because the reactors around the world have closed circuits for their cooling system. It's akin to a car's radiator. The water does not go into the combustion chambers and carry carbon monoxide out. Similarly, water does not run through to the core of the reactors and touch naked uranium. It is nowhere near as dangerous as water that was directly exposed to radiation as in Fuku's case.

At issue is the amount of radioactive materials at release moment, thus it doesn't matter where or in which way water actually gets through.

Speaking of the final amount, just for example Korean nuclear powerplants have been released 6 times larger amount of tritium than Fukushima's into Sea of Japan ... how scandalous, isn't it?

福島第一のトリチウム水にイチャモンをつける韓国は、その6倍以上のトリチウムを日本海に放出

https://agora-web.jp/archives/2041419.html

At Fukushima, with all radioactive materials to be removed (except tritium), then the water will further be sufficiently diluted. It will get started in two years to come, and over next 30 years to complete. The entire process is in line with the IAEA global safety criteria (or say even stricter in some points).

0 ( +3 / -3 )

nandakandamandaToday  04:34 pm JST

Russia has kept silent through all of this.

Personally, I'd rather drink Atomic vodka (ingredients exclusively from the Chernobyl region, developed by Portsmouth University); That sounds much more wholesome than trusting a buffoon like Aso.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

https://agora-web.jp/archives/2041419.html

The Japanese propaganda machine is in full force, some trickling through to this JT platform. Lots of related articles in other Japanese media outlets, mind you, the only country in the world that keeps perpetuating these fake news. It's almost as if the Jgov wants to prep its citizens and gain their acceptance prior to releasing the radiated water. Why don't the Jgov try and promote their propaganda in other countries? Because it won't work.

When I see this, I see Japan being no different to North Korea and China. The gov can only survive through propaganda, signs of a dictatorial country.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

If needing to choose one, I would drink the water from Fukushima over the regular tap water in China which is undrinkable.

Btw, your persistent bringing up of China's water is irrelevant. Tell me a Chinese government official who said China's water is safe to drink.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Btw, your persistent bringing up of China's water is irrelevant. Tell me a Chinese government official who said China's water is safe to drink.

At least there is one who said so in Japan and you claim there is none in China. LOL. It says everything real

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Btw, your persistent bringing up of China's water is irrelevant. Tell me a Chinese government official who said China's water is safe to drink.

Many communist officials are rich or privileged to get pure water. Many, almost a million ordinary Chinese have virtually no choice but drink unsafe water. If clean water is at the central issue, why not Beijing caring more about own home problem first before lecturing the water quality overseas? Isn't that exactly how Beijing diverts public attention from the real problem?

Below is the updated, 2021 study about China's water quality (problem).

Nearly 100 million Chinese people supplied drinking water with ‘unsafe’ levels of toxic chemicals

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3117969/nearly-100-million-chinese-people-supplied-drinking-water

"Water talks" started from the China side, and I'm just giving some comparison as a reference point to help readers (especially Chinese audiences) better understand what water safety is supposed to mean. I stand by science, scientific claims and data. By scientific standard, the Fukushima water will be safe, safer than China's tap water used on daily basis at home.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

I am sure that Fukushima water is much safer to drink than tap water in Beijing after living there several years and seeing the water filters after one month of use. Probably Chinese Baijiu would taste better if made of Fukushima water.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Look honey, no-one ever complained about Japan's nuclear reactors prior to the world's largest and worst nuclear meltdown happening in 2011. That's because the reactors around the world have closed circuits for their cooling system. It's akin to a car's radiator. The water does not go into the combustion chambers and carry carbon monoxide out. Similarly, water does not run through to the core of the reactors and touch naked uranium. It is nowhere near as dangerous as water that was directly exposed to radiation as in Fuku's case.

Why not give your shallow lecture to all members of IAEA. ..lol..or do you agree any organizations under UN

are just craps?

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

I'm not expert of radioactive substances. What I know is cesium, strontium,,, will hurt DNA and kill people sooner or later, but I've never heard tritium killed DNA and people. Tritium is another hydrogen. Tritium exists in nature, especially in minerals. We are already taking more or less tritium in food and in water. However tritium is still unknown for what is going to happen to body years later.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@noriahojanen

"Water talks" started from the China side

No it did not. It is Japan who decided to dump the water in the sea. Then Aso which claimed it was safe to drink. Chinese just asked him to do so.

We are no in a competition about who got the more dirty water.

Lot of people from various field are opposed to the release of the water. Aso got a viable option by having it as drinking water. So why not proceed this way and direct treated by alps to a plant to produce bottle water. Do not see any reason why people thinking the water is safe for consumption will have a problem with that.

They can have just projected to built more tank and take advantage of the short half life of tritium.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/japan-plans-release-fukushima-s-contaminated-water-ocean

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Ship it over to a couple of contentious islands.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

He’s right, of course. I wouldn’t recommend drinking it for many years on a daily basis, but just to pull those Chinese propaganda teeth, it is more than safe to drink some glasses in front of the media. lol

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Why not give your shallow lecture to all members of IAEA. ..lol..or do you agree any organizations under UN

are just craps?

We're on a roll I see. Another quality Jgov propaganda.

If the Jgov truly believes it's safe, tell them to connect water mains to it and supply all the households with the tainted Fuku water for free.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

We are no in a competition about who got the more dirty water.

Well said. Unfortunately though, for some as well as the incompetent Jgov, these tactics are used to diffuse and save face. Comments like, "oh, these thugs are doing it, so it's not bad for us". It's never like, we have moral standards so we should be upright and civil and socially responsible. Never! That's what ruins the image of Japan for me.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

If the Jgov truly believes it's safe, tell them to connect water mains to it and supply all the households with the tainted Fuku water for free.

Yeah Good idea. Why not China, South Korea, any other countries dumping treated water into the ocean should do the same. Agree?

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Check the pollution levels of China's rivers flowing into the Pacific. Not just to count the dead pigs.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

@kennyG

Agreed for them to proceed the water to be bottled bottle and sell it.

If people think the water is safe for consumption just do it. If not, do not throw it, you clean it enough to agree to drink it as a normal basis.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Reminds me of that time that Greenpeace founder turned Industrial lobbyist claimed you could drink Round-up and it wouldn’t hurt you. And then when the interviewer pulled out a bottle and asked him if he wanted to drink some on camera, he claimed he wouldn’t because he wasn’t an idiot but that it was still totally safe to do so and then fled the interview.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Lot of people from various field are opposed to the release of the water. 

Are those people opposed in general to policy of the water discharge, practiced in most plants around the world, approved by the IAEA? Do they now specifically target Fukushima? In the latter case, on what scientific grounds or criteria do they tell differences? Chinese nuclear power plants discharge spent water, so does Korean, and the amount is quite a lot. Why only inhibiting Japanese?

They can have just projected to built more tank and take advantage of the short half life of tritium.

If this is a most viable solution, why not China and Korea adopting it soon? Or just propose all concerning parties come to agree on a common water storage policy. At least Aso is right, the Pacific Ocean is not China's sewer. And at least the Chinese officials are hypocrite so long as its home plants are continuing to discharge tritium into sea.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

"one-40th of the concentration permitted under Japanese safety standards and one-seventh of the WHO's guideline for drinking water."

————

This is an amazing good example to show worldwide how bad "Japanese standards" are...

1/40 against a WorldWide 1/7

Economy before health, as usual in Japan!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Zhao needs to triple dog dare him.

CMon Aso, we all wanna see you drink it.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The majority of the volume the “waters” have been cleaned to universally accepted discharge stands or better. The same standards used in US & France for surface & river discharge.

My company has been onsite for 10 years treating a large portion of all waters from the site with ALPS, RO and nuclide-selective media to non-detect levels - I’d have no problem drinking it.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

@noriahojanen

Still going on about South Korea and China ? You understand that Japanese normally operating nuclear plant also do the same and they are not targeted. Just the Fukushima water is talked about. Perhaps time to think about why.

After I am perfectly fine with discharge being stopped worldwide. Since people claim the water is safe for consumption, they should be happy to drink it. If they prefer use time fine also with me. And again why are you going for South Korea and China. They are not the only one against this discharge neither are they the only one having nuclear plant in that part of the world. For example, lot of complain about the discharge is coming from Japan and the country also got nuclear power plant.

The issue is Aso claiming the water can be drunk. If you believe so, you should agree that the most obvious way to please everyone is to make it drinking water. So what is the point of boohooing about South Korea and China round and round. Should be proud, Aso just got a good idea.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I couldn't care less about what China and South Korea say, but history teaches me that PR has to be better to convince people of something good after a disaster. After the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash, Spain’s then-Minister of Information, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, and United States Ambassador, Angier Biddle Duke, went as far as to splash around Palomares' Quitapellejos beach as means to prove to people that the waters were safe to swim in. So I (alongside everyone or so here) openly challenge Aso to drink that water and put the matter to bed.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Let Aso prove it by drinking aglass of it in front of the cameras for all to see.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Quote: "According to the Japanese government's plan, the tritium will be diluted to less than 1,500 becquerels per liter, one-40th of the concentration permitted under Japanese safety standards and one-seventh of the WHO's guideline for drinking water."

That is the quality of monitored filtered and diluted water that he is being asked to drink, before being poured into the Pacific. (Not directly out of any tank.)

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Hey China, Japan is contaminated enough for you to immediately stop purchasing Japanese water source here and there.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Who the hell drinks seawater? Bottoms up, there Skippy... I'll be over in the pub sipping a porter.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If it is really so safe for humans, then discharge it in the Tokyo bay!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The Japanese minsters and US Bliken should lead by action and start drinking Fukushima nuclear radoactive water when they said it is safe to drinks for 1 month with their family member.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

.

Aso ????? What can one expect !

No two neurons firing .

.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

didn't several Japanese MP's drink the fukushima treated water to prove that it's safe?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15533018

see.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Dentsu going to be working overtime selling this to the public.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I bet 100 out of 100 , if you have to chose either one of them, they pick Fukushima water over Chinese/South Korean Kimchi water

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Drink up, Taro-kun!

Put up or shut up!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

China and South Korea should shut down all their own nuclear power plants before spewing all those craps. I say again, 100 out of 100 ordinary people with common sense would chose Fukushima water rather than their smelly, contaminated sludge, if they are forced to pick either one of them. Hygienic concepts among Asia is not same at all you see?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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