Japan’s fisheries agency said on Saturday fish tested in waters around the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant did not contain detectable levels of the radioactive isotope tritium, Kyodo news service reported.
Japan’s fisheries agency said on Saturday fish tested in waters around the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant did not contain detectable levels of the radioactive isotope tritium, Kyodo news service reported.
If the water is fine, why does it have to be released?
Also, would the water from the plant be safe to swim in, or only once it’s diluted with the sea?
Truthfully? I’d swim in the filtered water, but I’m not as concerned with radioactive exposure as others. It’s only a few grams of tritium. Really to be safe you’d need to dilute it more. Tritium is a beta emitter that’s blocked by the skin, so it’s only a problem when it’s absorbed. It’s readily absorbed since it’s water, but it’s also readily released, since it’s water.
I believe it’s because they don’t have the capacity to store it properly anymore. So diluting it and releasing it little by little is what they came up with. It’s not ideal but it’s the least worse solution they have.
Because at the concentration it’s being stored at, it will continue to be dangerous for a long time, and we can’t count on it being contained indefinitely because shit happens, like earthquakes and tsunamis.