2023-08-06 14:31:41
The largest Japanese electric utility company, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), examined a black rockfish (Sebastes melanops) back in May. They found that the level of radioactive cesium in the fish was 180 times higher than the legal limit. The radioactive fish was caught not far from TEPCO’s Fukushima power plant, where three nuclear reactors melted down in 2011 as a result of a tsunami. The rainwater falling at the reactors flows into the area where the rockfish were caught. Is it the right decision to release radioactive waste water into the ocean? This has reignited controversy over TEPCO’s plans to release 1.3 million tons of treated wastewater into the ocean starting in August. According to a document released on July 23, the problem is still not being addressed, so it is not at all known what effect releasing the water might have. Radioactive cesium has already been detected in surface water and in several types of food. Its level depends on whether there was any nuclear contamination nearby. At TEPCO’s power plant, waste water has already mixed with rainwater and groundwater since the tsunami. The company admitted that in the place where the fish was caught, the level of cesium on the seabed was higher than 100,000 becquerels/kg, while the maximum allowed level would be 100 becquerels/kg. A TEPCO official said earlier that since 2012, the company has continuously caught fish from the port at the power plant due to the inflow of polluted water. In January 2022, an elevated level of radioactivity was measured in a fish caught near Fukushima. Then they stopped transporting fish from the Fukushima area. By the way, the Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) and the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency have already approved the release of waste water into the Pacific Ocean. This is necessary so that the affected parts of the power plant can finally be properly closed. It has already been announced well in advance in quite a few places (Hong Kong, China) that the delivery of certain Japanese products will be suspended if the water is released. And it’s not just regarding cesium. TEPCO has already announced that the ALPS system used for water purification cannot, for example, remove tritium, nor isotopes of cobalt or strontium.
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