Seven key questions about the Fukushima water release

The Japanese government's decision to release nuclear wastewater from its Fukushima reactor has raised numerous concerns and generated many questions. Specifically, Japan intends to discharge millions of metric tons of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear reactor, which suffered significant damage during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, directly into the Pacific Ocean.

The release of treated radioactive water has sparked a global debate, dividing opinions. Concerns raised by Japan's aquaculture industry, environmentalists, and neighboring countries like China, Korea, and Pacific Island nations.

The Japanese government has partnered with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to address these concerns, a regulatory body ensuring safety standards. The Japanese government claims the treated water is safe and has the endorsement of the IAEA for its planned release.

Physicist Jamie Quinton, who is Professor and Head of the School of Natural Sciences at Massey University in New Zealand, answers seven critical questions about the plan.

What’s happening with the Fukushima nuclear reactor?

In August 2013, a Fukushima operator disclosed that the damaged nuclear reactor had leaked about 300,000 liters of untreated wastewater. This water is crucial to cool the exposed reactor cores, and the leak might have been happening since the tsunami in March 2011. Even though Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said the leaked water went into the ground and not the ocean, the plant is right by the shoreline, so contamination is likely. The leaked water had more than 100 times the allowed radioactivity.

After that, TEPCO made ways to remove lots of newly contaminated water daily. They have a system called ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) to filter out the heavy radioactive stuff from the water.

ALPS helped make the wastewater much safer, but leaks still made people not trust TEPCO because the water got out from the Fukushima plant.

For years, Japan has planned to release about 1.25 million tons of treated Fukushima wastewater into the sea. They want to do this when they can't store any more water in tanks, and that's expected to happen in 2023.

One reason for this is to lower risks. Keeping the water in tanks could be risky, especially if something like an earthquake happens. Releasing the treated water in a controlled way is seen as safer than having it accidentally spill out.

The Japanese say the water is now safe to release. Is it?

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says so. The IAEA makes strict rules and international standards for protecting from radiation. They watch over how water used in reactors is released around the world. They've supported TEPCO and the Japanese government's plan to release treated water.

But some experts and many leaders from Pacific Islands are worried. In March 2022, a group of global experts on nuclear stuff helped Pacific Nations talk to Japan about releasing treated nuclear water into the Pacific Ocean.

TEPCO said for a while that ALPS gets rid of all radioactive things except tritium. But in 2018, they admitted it's not perfect and doesn't remove all the bad radioactive stuff. This made people even more unsure. It's logical to think that just spreading it out in water isn't the best solution. Some say TEPCO should clean the water many times to get rid of more of the heavy radioactive stuff.

So how radioactive is the water?

The main radioactive element in the wastewater is tritium. ALPS can remove heavy elements well, but it's not good at taking out lighter elements from the water.

Tritium is a type of hydrogen, the lightest element. It has an atomic number of 1, like regular hydrogen, because it has only one proton in its center (nucleus). Hydrogen doesn't have any neutrons, deuterium (D) has one proton and one neutron, and tritium (T) has one proton and two neutrons.

These heavier types of hydrogen are made by neutrons, which are common in nuclear reactors. Neutrons make the nucleus of hydrogen atoms heavier. With more neutrons, the atom becomes radioactive. Radioactive things give off radiation to become more stable. The amount of radioactivity is measured in Becquerels (Bq). Hydrogen is the most stable. Deuterium and tritium are radioactive, but chemically they're like hydrogen. So when they're in water, you get molecules like H2O, D2O, T2O, DOH, TOH, and DOT.

In nature, most hydrogen is regular hydrogen (about 99.9%), a tiny bit is deuterium (0.02%), and tritium is very, very rare (1 tritium in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 hydrogen atoms).

The Fukushima water has a lot more tritium than usual water, but it's still a small part. From what's been measured, there's about 2.4 grams of tritium in the 1.25 million tons of wastewater.

Is tritium dangerous?

Tritium is not very risky to humans when it's in water. The main worry is when tritium gets into our bodies by breathing it in or eating food with a lot of it. People breathed in the steam because in Chernobyl, the water turned into steam, and that is why Chernobyl was considered more dangerous than Fukushima. Tritium doesn't stay in our bodies for long; about 7-10 days on average.

What's most important for cancer risk is the kind of radiation and how strong it is. Tritium gives off beta radiation, which isn't very strong. For comparison, when you get an X-ray, it's about 1 keV, while cancer treatment X-rays are around 1000 keV. In air, tritium's radiation travels about 10 cm, but in water, it's only a few micrometers, which is thinner than a hair.

Tritium's half-life is 12.35 years, which is how long it takes for half its radioactivity to go away. But that's just part of the story. It tells us how often tritium gives off radiation to get stable. This half-life is longer than its "biological half-life," making it not very risky. Over 30 years, about 81.5% of the tritium will have lost its radioactivity.

How much tritium is in the water?

The wastewater has about 10 million times more tritium than what's normally in water. Still, tritium is just around 10 parts out of a trillion. That means there's one tritium atom for every 100 billion hydrogen atoms.

When they let it into the ocean, the tritium will get very, very mixed up (diluted). It will become much, much less—way smaller than before—when it goes into the sea.

Is there anything else in the untreated water that is harmful?

There are radioactive types of elements that we should worry about—iodine-131, caesium-137, strontium-90, and cobalt-60. They come from the uranium in nuclear reactors. These elements can hurt human cells and are said to be taken out by the ALPS machine.

Iodine-131 and caesium-137 are used in cancer treatment. They have enough power to damage and change cells, which could cause cancer.

When you eat it, strontium-90 acts like calcium and goes into teeth and bones. It stays there until it's done giving off radiation. Cobalt-60 is made when iron and nickel in the reactor get hit by neutrons. Of all the radioactive things we're talking about, cobalt-60 is the worst. It breaks down with three strong kinds of radiation—two gamma and one beta.

All these radioactive things are bad for life and shouldn't be let into nature. Animals eat other animals, and in the end, humans might eat them too, and then we get the radiation. We need to keep these radioactive things out of nature, especially the ocean.

So, should we be worried?

The group of experts and the IAEA should set up checks on radiation levels before, during, and after the water is let into the ocean.

It's a good idea if the Japanese government and TEPCO have looked into other ways to use the tritium water. They could ask chemical companies or the nuclear fusion community, because tritium is important for nuclear fusion research.

If they do let the water into the ocean, they have to do it right and follow rules. This is really important for Japan's industries that rely on fish farming.

For Japan's economy, it's smart to make sure the water doesn't have too much radiation. That way, the food is safe, and they can still trade with other countries.

This content is originally published under the Creative Commons license by 360info™. The Ground Report editorial team has made some changes to the original version.

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