Going Bananas Over Release of Fukushima Wastewater

Going Bananas Over Release of Fukushima Wastewater into the Ocean

Today (08/24/23) Japan is starting the controlled release of wastewater that is slightly radioactive from the Fukushima nuclear site into the Pacific ocean. Given the usual news media hysteria about such events, I offer for your reading pleasure the “banana equivalent dose.”

Based on the numbers reported by Japanese authorities, it appears in rough orders of magnitude that the radioactivity of the tritium in the wastewater is equivalent of between five (5) and twelve (12) bananas (Potassium -40).

The Washington Post/Bloomberg in an OP ED for 08/24/23 calls the opposition to the release “unscientific nonsense”

“The effect when diluted in the waters of the Pacific is infinitely smaller. A two-year study by the International Atomic Energy Agency, reviewed by external experts appointed by governments including those of China, the Marshall Islands, Russia, South Korea, and Vietnam, concluded last month that the exposure for people in the region will be “undetectable and negligible.”

So, if in your virtual or real travels this week, if anyone tells you that the release of wastewater from Fukushima is a clear and present danger, you will be on firm ground to tell them they are bananas.

• For a deeper dive into plain English about radiation exposure see this chart

• For more news and details about the release of the wastewater, read on.

Fukushima / Japan Begins Discharge Of Treated Radioactive Water From Nuclear Power Station

(NucNet contributed to this report) Authorities and IAEA have deemed process safe, but plan has faced opposition from fishing industry and neighboring countries

Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) on 08/24/23 started discharging treated water stored at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station into the sea. The release was confirmed by, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts monitoring the discharges as the site in Fukushima, Japan.

Fukushima Wastewater Storage Site. Image: TEPCO

The discharge began 13.00 local time (06.00 Central European Time), according to TEPCO, the state-owned owner and operator of Fukushima-Daiichi.

The company said it expects to discharge only around 200 or 210 cubic meters of treated wastewater.  Going forward, it plans to then continuously release 456 cubic meters of treated wastewater over a 24-hour period and a total of 7,800 cubic meters over a 17-day period.

Measurement notes: There are 264 gallons of water in a cubic meter. For comparison purposes, to put this amount in perspective, Olympic swimming pools have specific dimensions. They are 50 meters long, 25 meters wide, and 2 meters deep. In terms of volume, when full, these pools hold 2.5 million liters of water or about 660,000 gallons or 2,500 cubic meters.

The release of 7,800 cubic meters of wastewater from the Fukushima site is the equivalent of just over three Olympic size swimming pools (1.87 million gallons)

The wastewater will be filtered of all its radioactive material except tritium and will be gradually pumped into the ocean through a tunnel with an underwater discharge point many miles offshore deep in the Pacific ocean.. The start of the operation comes weeks after the IAEA approved the discharge, saying that the radiological impact on people and the environment would be “negligible.”

Tritium levels in the discharged water will be reduced to 1/40 of the concentration allowed by Japanese standards. Japanese authorities said tritium levels in the water will be below those considered safe for drinking under World Health Organization (WHO) standards. In other words, the amount of tritium in the wastewater release is expected to be about seven times lower than the WHO drinking water limit for tritium.

Tritium is a radioactive by-product of the operation of nuclear plants. It is regularly released into waterways by nuclear power plants and emits very weak radiation. It is difficult to remove from water, which is why the treated water at Fukushima-Daiichi contains tritium.

The practice is also common in China for its fleet of commercial nuclear reactors, most of which are located at coast sites. China has been an outspoken opponent of the release of the wastewater and pointedly imposed on ban on importing fish from Japan as part of its protest. The symbolic protest is meaningless in terms of protection of the public from radiation.

IAEA experts this week took samples from the first batch of diluted water prepared for discharge. Analysis confirmed that the tritium concentration in the diluted water that is being discharged is far below the operational limit of 1,500 becquerels per liter (Bq/l). Becquerels are a measure of radioactivity.

The IAEA concluded the plan for “controlled, gradual discharges of the treated water to the sea,” would have a “negligible radiological impact” on people and the environment. The IAEA launched a webpage to provide live data from Japan on the water discharge. The data includes water flow rates, radiation monitoring data and the concentration of tritium after dilution.

TEPCO said the operation would be suspended immediately and an investigation conducted if any abnormalities are detected in the discharge equipment or the dilution levels of the treated wastewater.

Tritium Releases Are Common Without Health Effects

Experts point out that nuclear plants around the world use a similar process to dispose of wastewater containing low-level concentrations of tritium and other radionuclides.

“Tritium has been released [by nuclear power plants] for decades with no evidential detrimental environmental or health effects,” said Tony Hooker, a nuclear expert from the University of Adelaide.

“At any other nuclear site in the world, this would be considered a ‘routine’ release of treated wastewater with very low levels of radioactivity,” said Jim Smith, an environmental science professor at University of Portsmouth in the UK.

Over the past two years the IAEA has conducted a review of the safety related aspects of handling and discharge of the treated water at Fukushima-Daiichi. An IAEA report concluded that the wastewater discharge is consistent with international safety standards.

IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi has said the agency will continue its “impartial, independent and objective” safety review during the discharge phase. The IAEA and Japan agreed that the IAEA will maintain a presence at Fukushima-Daiichi.

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