Releasing 1.3 million tonnes of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean might sound like a terrible idea. But scientific data and the world’s premier nuclear agency say the release will not hurt people, marine life or the environment.
Most of the radioactivity in the water is from tritium, a type of hydrogen found in far higher quantities in the ocean. The rest of the radioactivity is so tiny that, even in the most extreme scenario, the radiation from eating fish amounts to that of a dental x-ray.
The liquid waste at Fukushima would fill 500 Olympic swimming pools and is mostly regular water. A process called ALPS, or Advanced Liquid Processing System, removes problematic isotopes such as cesium-137, strontium-90 and iodine-129. Repeating the treatment cycle makes this radioactivity as small as needed.
