Expert says dumping #Fukushima water a retrograde action
Tilman Ruff says the danger is that dumping the contaminated water could settle on the sea floor or concentrate up the food chain.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-26/expert-says-dumping-fukushima-water-a-retrograde-move/102400180
I looked up Tritium and found the following
1. It has a 1/2 life about about 12 years [1]
2. The dacay has a range of about 6km, so I think this means that the beta particles won't travel very far.*
3. Tritium occours naturally looking at [1] doesn't seem to afect human health or I guess the article would say so.
References
1. https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclide-basics-tritium
* I am not too sure where I read this as I looked up on several sites.
To add however I don't realaly like the idea of dumping anythig into the environment, it just seems to disrupt things too much.
Interesting on a totally different note, the area of the pacific earmarked for mining is teaming with new species we know nothing about, so this mekes me wonder if we dump this tritium close to shore, will it disperse and end up in the deeper ocean too.
Rather than mining, we need to consume less and recycle more.
And the interviewee is saying the levels of tritiated water can't be reliably known, and any sea life that ingests it, can obviously carry it further and join the food chain. Also, there is so much of it, dilution isn't may also not be reliable if it collects in areas due to currents etc.
This will also not be the last time they have to dump so much, so if it settles in the same area that could be a longer term problem too. There is no end in sight for when they will be able to stop dumping 1000s of tanks of tritiated water in the coming decades.
@zleap
Yeah, dumping from nuclear plants of tritiated water happens all the time.
At Fukushima there is so much seawater being pumped into the broken reactors to keep it cooler, and so many other isotopes were created in the melting down. It is impossible to do quality control on all of it and TEPCO isn't that transparent. As well as other isotopes, there is a huge problem of toxic waste from the chemicals used to treat the contaminated water and the froth it creates.