Danger of Radioactive Water

I'm very concerned with the release of radioactive water by Japan. Let me share with you the facts as shown below. 

In 1986, Chernobyl had nuclear accident which rendered it inhospitable for living till now. In 2016, BBC reported, "Children are still being born with severe birth defects and rare types of cancer in areas near to Chernobyl, according to a British charity, three decades on from the world's worst civil nuclear disaster. 

For British paediatrician Dr Rachel Furley, the "desperately sad" reality is that women who have spent their entire lives exposed to high levels of radiation are now having children. She says that in the most severe cases babies have limbs missing and in one case a baby was born with two heads.

When Dr Furley is not treating children in Bury St Edmunds, she helps 800 youngsters in Gomel, a region of Belarus." You can read more here. You can also find mutated animals and plants in Chernobyl.

From National Geographic, "Now, American scientists are raising concerns that marine life and ocean currents could carry harmful radioactive isotopes—also called radionuclides—across the entire Pacific Ocean." Richmond and his colleagues are not the only American scientists urgently raising such concerns. This past December, the United States-based National Association of Marine Laboratories—an organization with more than a hundred member labs in the U.S. or U.S. territories—released a statement opposing the wastewater release plan. It cited “a lack of adequate and accurate scientific data supporting Japan’s assertion of safety.” The discharges, the statement said, may threaten the “largest continuous body of water on the planet, containing the greatest biomass of organisms … including 70 percent of the world’s fisheries.” 

“The root of this problem is that they are moving already with a plan that has not yet shown that it will work,” Buesseler says. “They’re saying, ‘We can make it work. We’ll treat it as many times as it takes.’ If you want to put a nickname on this plan, it’s ‘trust us; we’ll take care of it.’” Do you trust them? 

You can read more here.

The Guardian reported black rockfish caught in Fukushima in May this year was found to be above the safety limit, with 180 times legal limit of radioactive cesium. You can read more here. 

From France 24, "In Fukushima, however, the situation is very different since it is a damaged plant,” said Jean-Christophe Gariel, deputy director in charge of health and the environment at France's Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). 

"This time, part of the stored water was poured directly onto the reactors in order to cool them,” Gariel added. “Unlike the water from our [French] nuclear plants, [theirs] became loaded with many radioactive compounds, known as radionuclides." 

What is so infuriating is Japan is going to release the radioactive water to pacific ocean for the next 30 years and the ocean will just be contaminated with these accumulative radioactive substances. The world should speak out. The pacific ocean is not their dumping ground. What will happen to the marine life? Will there be more mutated marine animals? I have been avoiding seafood now since they released radioactive water. If you plan to have baby, it is better to abstain from seafood.

The world should just stop using nuclear energy if engineers can't manage the radioactive waste which can cause genetic mutation and birth defects. These selfish politicians should state the truth and not affect future generation. There is this universal law known as karma or cause and effect. Water will spread around the world and not confine to the Pacific ocean. Stop polluting the ocean. 

Reference sources:

BBC: Chernobyl's legacy 30 years on. Click here. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36115240

National Geographic: Japan releases nuclear wastewater into the Pacific. How worried should we be? Click here  

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/fukushima-japan-nuclear-wastewater-pacific-ocean

The Guardian: Fukushima fish with 180-times legal limit of radioactive cesium fuels water release fears Click here. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/24/fukushima-fish-with-180-times-legal-limit-of-radioactive-cesium-fuels-water-release-fears

France 24: Japan’s Fukushima water release plan fuels fear despite IAEA backing Click here. https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20230819-japan-s-fukushima-water-release-plan-fuels-fear-despite-iaea-backing

Image from National Geographic here.