As titled, this came up while I was discussing with my family and I cannot come up with a reason as to why they “have” to dump it in the ocean, as opposed to keeping said contaminated water in tanks underground until decade’s or centuries later when the contamination is negligible, with a big sign on top saying “DO NOT TOUCH UNTIL -“. Dumping it in the ocean risks contamination as well as directly impacting their exports and relationships with nearby countries, as well as possible irreversible effects on the ocean eco-system.
So why? What am I missing?
In: Earth Science
It’s water, with very little radioactive hydrogen. If they cut it 10-to-1 with other water, it’d pass the standard for drinking water in Japan.
It doesn’t really risk contamination of the ocean — it’s just a PR problem. The ocean’s already got far, far more tritium in it, as well as other radioactive elements.
Well the problem is they are constantly generating radioactive water.
Its not that they have to. Its that unless they get more money and build more tanks they will have to.
That being said, diluting it and dumping it isn’t that bad of an idea. The only thing they can’t filter out before the dump is tritium, and diluted down to what qualifies as safe levels usually means levels that amount to like an extra hour of sunlight a year.
Tritium in particular is super harmless. Its “radioactive decay” is essentially spitting out an electron.
It likely a combination of the seismic instability in Japan and running of our space. If you believe the reports from Japan, they have filtered most of the radioactive particles except tritium. Tritium impact on humans is typically not fatal but I have no idea on the impact to seafood.
Short answer, the Japanese government hasn’t given a good answer. The water is stored in 1, 000 giant tanks, but they’re about to start dumping them slowly into the ocean. Here’s an interesting Forbes article on the subject. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishandegnarain/2020/10/18/japan-to-release-radioactive-fukishima-water-into-ocean/#101dc1743297
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