this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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This water? I wouldn't be concerned with at all. I'd gladly fill a swimming pool with it and shine some UV lights on it and throw a pool party. It would be approximately as dangerous as drinking from uranium glass. I wouldn't recommend drinking large quantities of the water, much like I would recommend with all pool water, but otherwise it doesn't matter.
Per this source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc1507
The treated water contains traces of other radioactive elements that do bioaccumulate. While the water alone is below the legal food limit, that can't be considered as a fair limit due to bioaccumulation of heavier radioactive isotopes.
How about linking to a source that doesn't have a 30 to 15 dollar paywall for non-members? Or at the very least posting the full study instead of straight to the paywall that most people can't afford.
The paper is also from 2020 so it's also missing the most recent information and context in regards to the water being diluted and sent out.
Edit: a user directed me to where I could find the full study, and it can be found here Ultimately the study says there should be additional research into the isotopes found within the tanks beyond the tritium found in them.
I definitely agree additional studying should be done, but even then the article doesn't disagree with releasing the tanks. Instead they would rather wait until the isotopes are more decayed. There is however a risk of tank breach due to possible natural disasters such as tsunamis or earthquakes that would allow these isotopes to be release in a more potent concentration.
So the option is to either release it in lower concentration and diluted water is specific amounts, or hold on to it and hope the tanks don't breach for 60 years.
The risk exposure isn't changed, though. The plan is to slowly release it for decades... So if there's natural disaster, the risk is still there.
It's Tepco wanting to preserve their bottom line at the cost of human health. Simple as that.
My bad - FWIW, Science is considered to be very reputable and should be accessible from most libraries.
They filtered out the majority of the other bio-accumulating isotopes. "Trace amounts" of isotopes exist in every single element independent of nuclear power plants.
But the traces in the wastewater are fairly high, falling just below legal food limits (ignoring that bioaccumulation by definition accumulates toxins from the water into animals).
Where are you reading that? I saw that the heavy metals were all filtered out and this discharge is for the Tritated Water only, with "trace" amounts of the heavy metals, meaning what you would find in normal salt water.
That isn't what trace means, though.
This is the data averaged over the tanks: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc1507
The variance in concentrations is massive. The concentrations on average is barely below legal limits and the bioaccumulation factor for these isotopes is fairly sizable in marine life.
Tepco is cutting corners on this release. They have a history of cutting corners and they will continue to cut corners. The cleanup is a massive money sink for the Japanese government and is something they are eager to be rid of (also, y'know, some old people dying is probably good for Japan's demographics). Unfortunately for Japan, they aren't the only people eating fish caught in Japan.