Japan Dumping Radioactive Waste Water into the Ocean

[Alexzee]

I'll think twice before I eat any more tilapia or cod.

Japan to release tons of radioactive wastewater into ocean Thursday

Japan intends to discharge over 1 million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

www.wmar2news.com

 

[Deleted member 108694]

Godzilla is a prehistoric reptilian monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. Japan hasn't learned much
Then again, what are the Japanese going to do with radioactive waste water? Can't drink it, can't use it on food supplies or crops???

 

[KGIII]

Back in the day, we used to say that the solution to pollution is dilution. This does have some merit.

I'm unqualified to opine on this specific situation but I can't really think of a more reasonable solution.

It's not like they can pump it into the ground. Maybe we should buy a crappy country, pay to re-home everyone in it, and turn it into the world's dump for hazardous materials. Then, in the future, we can even go back to mine the area when we've found a use for those resources.

As it is, some of our best future mines will have been the landfills of today. There are all sorts of mineral goodies there.

Anyhow...

This could be somewhere between 'perfectly fine' and 'an international disaster waiting to happen'. But, I suspect Japan got the advice from some pretty smart people. They probably did stuff like ask experts from all over the globe before making this decision.

 

[Alexzee]

I think this is a bad decision that may have unwanted consequences.

For example radioactive cesium (one of the elements they are dumping) can damage cells in the body and cause vomiting and a whole lot of other problems. It also ignites in the air.

I wish they could dump it in the ground KGIII. That would kill a lot less marine life.
Heck, ship it far out into space that way it's out of the soil:-

And yes, I agree it could be perfectly fine or a international disaster just waiting to happen.

 

[KGIII]

For example radioactive cesium (one of the elements they are dumping) can damage cells in the body and cause vomiting and a whole lot of other problems. It also ignites in the air.

With things like this, the level of concentration is important. The ocean is huge. Like, really huge.

We're bombarded with radiation at all times (less so if you live deep underground). This is very different than being in a fallout area after a nuclear bomb has gone off - with the key reason being the amount of radiation, that is the concentration of radioactive particles in the area.

Also, I don't think I'd worry too much about the element catching on fire. The diffusion will likely take care of that aspect, and there'd need to be some sort of catalyst to free the molecules from the water.

Again, I'm not qualified to opine. I'm merely offering some information that I do know about.

I do know that we were able to measure higher radioactivity in the ocean after the tsunami that took out the power plant in the first place. It was still within 'healthy' limits, but there was an increase - and that's from clear across the Pacific Ocean.

 

[Alexzee]

Radionuclides | US EPA

Information about radionuclides and links to additional information about specific radionuclides.

www.epa.gov

I'm retired many years of practicing Dentistry.
Learning from Dr.'s, Scientist and regular continuing educational gatherings I don't trust what some of the experts say.

If your Dr. ask's you to go for an MRI and they want it done with high contrast, don't take the shot that they want to give you. Seriously, it's radioactive!

Thanks for the info. I'll do my homework:-
That is when I 'm done gathering all my open src info. and screenshots for my next Linux Blog article.

 

[KGIII]

my next Linux Blog article.

Today's article might interest you. It's probably a bit early to bother with, but when you've got a bunch of articles written it may be of interest. It's also not too early to get your site set up with the Google and Bing tools, going through the account configuration and verifying ownership of your site.

This assumes you want readers. If you're not interested in readership, don't bother with it. In my case, the vast majority of traffic comes from search engines. The next largest segment is people who click links to my site that were on other sites. People share links to my site all over the web.

So, if you want more readers then you might want to get set up with the various webmaster tools out there.

 

[Alexzee]

Today's article might interest you. It's probably a bit early to bother with, but when you've got a bunch of articles written it may be of interest. It's also not too early to get your site set up with the Google and Bing tools, going through the account configuration and verifying ownership of your site.

This assumes you want readers. If you're not interested in readership, don't bother with it. In my case, the vast majority of traffic comes from search engines. The next largest segment is people who click links to my site that were on other sites. People share links to my site all over the web.

So, if you want more readers then you might want to get set up with the various webmaster tools out there.

Thanks!

 

[ML_113]

I'll think twice before I eat any more tilapia or cod.

I think I'll stop eating seafood for a few years. The way things are now, you can't trust the source of any product. Fish are transferred mid-ship, processed and labelled as coming from any country they want.

 

[Alexzee]

I think I'll stop eating seafood for a few years. The way things are now, you can't trust the source of any product. Fish are transferred mid-ship, processed and labelled as coming from any country they want.

Agreed, there are a lot of weird ingredients on the labels in some foods now.
Fish swimming around in radioactive water just doesn't sound very appetizing.

 

[KGIII]

Y'all don't think this is new, do you?

Ocean disposal of radioactive waste - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We've been dumping radioactive material in the ocean for a while.

 

[Alexzee]

We don't need another repeat of Chernobyl.

Chernobyl | Chernobyl Accident | Chernobyl Disaster - World Nuclear Association

Chernobyl accident information. The Chernobyl RBMK reactor design faults and how they were addressed. The Chernobyl New Safe Confinement. Lessons learnt from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Health impacts of Chernobyl.

www.world-nuclear.org

 

[KGIII]

We don't need another repeat of Chernobyl.

Gen IV reactors are significantly safer. So, there's that. I have high hopes for thorium. There's been a lot of research in the area of thorium and molten salt reactors, should you feel inclined to look into it.

But, Chernobyl was caused by shoddy building and shoddy employees making stupid mistakes. That should have never happened.

Fukushima (spelling?) was caused by building a nuclear reactor in a known tsunami zone.

Thorium would resolve all of this. We actually had thorium working as a power generator way back in the fifties. It didn't produce radioactive waste that could be used for nuclear weapons, so the nuclear powers largely ignored it. China is building one right now and another one has been built, though at a smaller scale.

One of the positive things is that we have a 'nearly infinite' amount of thorium available. The stuff is everywhere.

 

[ML_113]

Y'all don't think this is new, do you?

OK, now I know, that will make it worse ... psychologically.
Beside, when haddock doesn't taste like haddock, I would say thank, I won't buy it again considering the jacked up price.

 

[KGIII]

I won't buy it again considering the jacked up price.

I get delicious lobster at 'boat price' and those things eat the worst of the worst - crawling along the ocean floor. You wouldn't even eat the bait they use in the traps! (Me either.)

I'm still gonna eat delicious lobster. I'm pretty sure I'll die anyhow and the lobster won't have made too much of an impact. Hmm... Now I kind of want to have lobster. It's a bit of a drive for me to get to my buddy's house on the coast. He lives out on Bailey Island and is a lobsterman.

 

[Alexzee]

OK, now I know, that will make it worse ... psychologically.
Beside, when haddock doesn't taste like haddock, I would say thank, I won't buy it again considering the jacked up price.

Jacked up indeed.
A pound of lump crab here is $13.oo and shrimp is $8 bucks a pound.
I'll do w/o for a while.

 

[ML_113]

I stopped buying raised salmon and shrimp long time ago, not because of pollution scare but their awful taste.