TEPCO putting radioactive water in the sea

[Generic Other]

Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun disposing of wastewater containing low-level radioactive substances into the sea from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in a bid to stabilize the plant.

TEPCO began releasing a total of 10,000 tons of wastewater on Monday evening. It also started disposing of 1,500 tons of low-level contaminated groundwater near the Number 5 and Number 6 reactors later in the evening.

The utility company says the release is aimed at making room in facilities to store the more highly contaminated water from the Number 2 reactor's turbine building and a nearby tunnel, as the contaminated water is hampering restoration work.

The company says the level of iodine-131 in the wastewater is about 100 times the legal limit. But the plant operator says that if a person were to eat fish and seaweed taken from near the plant every day for a year, the radiation exposure would be 0.6 millisieverts. It adds that the annual permissible level for the general public is one millisievert.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_34.html

Link to Reuters story:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/japan-idUSL3E7F42CD20110404

[thereismore]

1. Delicious fish. nt

[PearliePoo2]

2. I was going to go dig some little-neck clams for dinner.....

Now I have to re-think my entire seafood diet preference.(like maybe forever)
Man, this REALLY PISSES ME OFF.:cry:

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. I wonder who has put more radioactivity into the ocean...

the US, the Russians, or TEPCO ?

[Generic Other]

4. Seems like testing in the South Pacific must have contaminated water

Lots of it.

[FLPanhandle]

9. The US and Russians by a mile

We've both dump tons of material into the seas in offshore dump sites. We've both lost entire nuclear reactors in submarines (forget coolant water; the entire reactor).

TEPCO would have to bulldoze the entire site into the sea to even come close.

[flamingdem]

14. Where is it known or speculated that these sites are located? nt

[Paradoxical]

15. The United States hands down.

[Electric Monk]

5. Repeat after me: The solution to pollution is dilution

http://fr33domhall.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/trash-island/

[malaise]

6. I know someone on a full scholarship

She isn't going back

[spanone]

7. our major media outlets are growing weary of the nuclear story...

soon it will be over...cause if the media doesn't report it, it really doesn't happen

[Warren DeMontague]

8. I think the idea is to put the sort of radioactive water in so they can figure out how to stop the

EXTREMELY radioactive water from going in.

[Generic Other]

10. Fish are already testing for radiation!

The amount of water being released is equivalent to more than four Olympic-size swimming pools.

The government approved the release of the water into the sea as an "emergency" measure, even though it had levels of radioactive iodine 131 more than 100 times the legal limit allowed for sea discharge. The government asserted that it would not pose immediate threat to humans, but health ministry official Taku Ohara said the ministry was considering drawing up radioactivity food-safety standards for fish after high radiation levels were detected in a sand lance, a bottom-feeding fish, caught off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture.

<snip>

Tokyo Electric Power Co. faces a growing problem of what to do with the vast amounts of contaminated water. With limited facilities for storing the water, the utility and the government are now considering options including putting it into a "floating island" offshore, or installing an undersea barrier, usually used to contain old spills, that might slow the radioactive water's move offshore.

http://www.thirdage.com/news/japan-radiation-water-dumped-sea_4-4-2011?page=1

[flamingdem]

11. This is horrific, and again they cried and said they are sorry

This is such a pathetic situation for humankind, and so unnecessary if those in charge would have seen the big picture.

[hayu_lol]

12. The 11,500 tons of radioactive water being dumped(to get to...

the working parts of the reactor)is essentially an eyedropper full.

http://www.northern-stars.com/oceans.pdf

(a teacher's guide)

Compare 11,500 tons with:

1,450,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons approx. ocean weight

One Quintillion, 450 Quadrillion tons

The very small amount being dumped will be diluted quickly by the open ocean.

[flamingdem]

13. I know what you mean - it's better into the water than into the air

If it goes into the air or worse impedes workers then there are more cancers from inhalation and food chain / groundwater intake.

I was convinced by an article in the NYT that the ocean dumping is not the worst problem of all.