There were several sources, Forbes being one of them, but this one German newspaper said it better.
When I read this, my first thought was, "Haven't they always pumped it (illegally) into the Pacific Ocean"??
Lynda
Let's all switch to Hydrogen fuel or fission..
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The Japanese government has reportedly decided to pump highly radioactive cooling water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean. The plan has been slammed by environmental groups, locals and neighboring nations.
Environmental groups have reacted furiously to reports that the Japanese government is set to approve plans to dump more than 1 million tons of highly radioactive water stored at the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, with their concerns shared by the governments of neighboring countries and people living in northeastern Japan.
A government panel set up to determine the best way of disposing the radioactively contaminated water is scheduled to announce its decision by the end of the month.
Three Fukushima reactors suffered meltdowns following a 2011 tsunami that destroyed wide swaths of the coastline in northern Japan's Miyagi prefecture.
According to reports leaked to Japanese media, the panel will recommend releasing the approximately 1.23 million tons of water currently stored in tanks in the grounds of the nuclear plant.
The alternatives that have been considered are to evaporate the water into the atmosphere or to mix it into concrete and store it underground.
According to reports from national broadcaster NHK and other news outlets, the panel will call for the water to be again put through a process designed to reduce the radioactivity to below "regulatory standards" and dilute it with sea water before it is pumped into the ocean.
The three damaged reactors require constant cooling with water, which becomes highly radioactive, and mixes with around 170 tons of groundwater that seeps into the subterranean levels of the reactor buildings every day.
That water is pumped into hundreds of huge tanks on the site every day, with Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), the operator of the power plant, estimating that even with more waste tanks being constructed, storage capacity will be reached fully in the summer of 2022.
Diverting attention from danger?
Environmental groups insist that there is no reason why more storage tanks cannot be constructed outside the perimeter of the plant. They accuse the government of seeking the cheapest and quickest solution to the problem, as authorities have promised the site will be safe in 40 years.
And that deadline, they say, is completely unrealistic. Complications include recovering the molten fuel that escaped from the reactor chambers. This kind of recovery has never before been attempted and the technology required does not yet exist.
They also accuse the Japanese authorities of playing down the radiation levels in the water planned for release.
And while it is true that tritium is less harmful than other radionuclides, Burnie said, the government's claims are extremely misleading.
By focusing on the tritium, he added, the government has shifted attention away from the other radioactive elements that remain in the water even after it has been "cleansed" by the on-site Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS).
It has been claimed the ALPS will reduce radioactive contaminants to "non-detectable" levels.
"The contaminated water contains many radionuclides, which we know impact the environment and human health — including strontium-90," said Burnie.
Leaked internal Tepco documents showing that efforts to reduce radionuclides to non-detect levels have not eliminated numerous radioactive elements, including iodine, ruthenium, rhodium, antimony, tellurium, cobalt and strontium, he added.
Residents of Fukushima Prefecture are also against the plan, with 42 of the 59 local authorities in the prefecture passing resolutions either expressing outright opposition to the plan or deep concern.
The fishing industry — which was devastated by the original natural disaster and has since struggled to reestablish itself — is also hostile to the proposals, with representatives of fishing cooperatives meeting with government officials last week to express their concerns.