#optepco — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #optepco, aggregated by home.social.
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Leaks found in hose to transfer #Fukushima #nuclear-contaminated #wastewater
Editor: huaxia, 2023-08-11
"The operator of the crippled #FukushimaDaiichi nuclear power plant has found leaks in a hose used to transfer nuclear-contaminated wastewater, local media reported on Friday.
"Tokyo Electric Power Company (#TEPCO) conducted a probe after higher-than-usual levels of #radioactive material were detected in #rainwater in the dike around a storage tank, public broadcaster NHK reported.
"An inspection found that some water had leaked from cracks of about four centimeters on a hose being used for transferring radioactive wastewater at the time, the report said.
"As the hose was used to transfer radioactive wastewater from another tank, TEPCO analyzed water in the dike around the tank and detected up to 67,000 becquerels of tritium per liter, which exceeded 60,000 becquerels, the standard set by the Japanese government for releasing tritium into the environment.
"TEPCO said that someone caused the cracks with a cutter blade while removing the packaging around the hose after it was delivered, adding that the water that leaked remained inside the barrier.
"TEPCO added that the leak would not affect the plan to discharge the radioactive wastewater from the plant into the ocean.
"Despite strong opposition from neighboring and #PacificIsland countries, as well as local fishermen over the irreversible impacts on the marine environment and public health, the Japanese government and TEPCO have been pushing for release of the radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant hit by a massive earthquake and an ensuing tsunami in March 2011."
http://www.chinaview.cn/20230811/04608123df0245b294d5fddaaee87191/c.html
#Fukuleaks #TEPCOLies #StopTEPCO #OpTEPCO #WaterIsLife #NoDumping #FukushimaWater #RethinkNotRestart
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Yes, because running contaminated water through TWO crappy filtration systems that don't work makes for good publicity!
"On September 21, 2021, #TEPCO announced that five more filters in ALPS were found to be damaged, and #radioactive contamination had been detected near some of the filters.
"Would the situation then improve if the undertreated water undergoes a second round of ALPS treatment? 'The answer is still unknown,' said the insider. He added that the discharge plan provided by TEPCO neither explained how to ensure the nuclear-contaminated wastewater would meet discharge standards after treatment, nor did it include an impact analysis of the substandard water discharge.
"'So far, TEPCO has only dealt with 0.25 percent of the nuclear-contaminated wastewater with a second round of treatment. It hasn't disclosed a timeline for the second round of treatment [for all the undertreated wastewater], nor has it ever publicized a plan on it,' he told the Global Times.
TEPCO's passive attitude has chilled the heart of all the parties in and out of #Japan who are concern about the discharge.'"#TEPCOLies #StopTEPCO #OpTEPCO #WaterIsLife #WorldOceanDay #JapanLies #JapanSecrecyAct #WorldOceansDay
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Alternatives To Dumping #Fukushima Wastewater Into The #Pacific
#Japan plans to dump treated, #radioactively contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific. but it could be used in other ways instead.
By CodeBlue | 12 April 2023
"Claims of total safety are not supported by the available information. The world’s #oceans are shared among all, providing over 50 percent of the oxygen we breathe, and a diversity of resources of economic, #ecological and #cultural value for present and future generations.
"Within the #PacificIslands in particular, the ocean is viewed as connecting, rather than separating, widely distributed populations.
"Releasing #radioactive contaminated water into the Pacific is an irreversible action with transboundary and #transgenerational implications. As such, it should not be unilaterally undertaken by any country.
"The #PacificIslandsForum has had the foresight to ask the relevant questions on how this activity could affect the lives and livelihoods of their peoples now and into the future. It has drawn on a panel of five independent experts to provide it with the critical information it needs to perform its due diligence.
"No one is questioning the integrity of Japanese or International Atomic Energy Agency scientists [I am], but the belief that our oceans’ capacity to receive limitless quantities of #pollutants without detrimental effects is demonstrably false.
"For example, tuna and other large ocean fish contain enough mercury from land-based sources to require people, especially pregnant women and young children, to limit their consumption. #Tuna have also been found to transport #radionuclides from Fukushima across the Pacific to California.
"Phytoplankton, microscopic organisms that float free in the ocean, can capture and accumulate a variety of radioactive elements found in the Fukushima cooling water, including #tritium and carbon-14.
"#Phytoplankton is the base for all marine food webs. When they are eaten, the contaminants would not be broken down, but stay in the cells of organisms, accumulating in a variety of invertebrates, fish, marine mammals and humans. Marine sediments can also be a repository for radionuclides, and provide a means of transfer to bottom-feeding organisms."
The solution? "Using the treated cooling water onsite to mix concrete that can be used to expand the seawall should be given more consideration if the water is truly safe, as it removes the issue of ocean release and would substantially reduce the volume of stored cooling water."
#PacificOcean #FukushimaWater #TEPCOLies #OpTEPCO #Japan #NoNukes #NoDumping #Bioaccumulation -
Will Japan release Fukushima water into the Pacific?
Officials in Japan have claimed that water exposed to radiation in the Fukushima nuclear disaster is now safe to dump into the Pacific. Environmentalists say the water is too contaminated.
by Julian Ryall , November 20, 2019
"#TEPCO and the government [of #Japan] have long believed that the best way to dispose of the water is to simply release it into the #ocean. They claimed until this year that contaminated water had been cleansed by a so-called advanced liquid processing system to the point that virtually all the radionuclides had been reduced to 'non-detect' levels.
"Leaked TEPCO documents, however, show that varying amounts of 62 radionuclides — including #strontium, #iodine, #cesium and #cobalt — have not been removed from the water.
"The company has also been criticized for refusing to permit independent organizations to test the water that is being stored at the site.
"Nevertheless, environmentalists fear that preparations are under way to release the water into the environment.
"'Even a year ago, when the first report on options for disposing the treated water was presented to the committee, it seemed clear to me even then that the preferred option was to release it into the ocean,' said Azby Brown, the lead researcher for Tokyo-based nuclear monitoring organization #Safecast Japan. Other options included #evaporation and burying the water.
"'My take on this is that they have already reached a decision and that all these discussions now on the options are purely theater.'"
#FukushimaWater #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #StopTEPCO #NoNukes #TEPCOLies #OpTEPCO #PacificOcean #FukushimaAnniversary #NoNewNukes #AtomkraftNeinDanke #AntiAtom
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With a half-life of 29 years, "Everyone is exposed to small amounts of Sr-90, since it is widely dispersed in the environment and the food chain. #Strontium-90 was widely dispersed in the 1950s and 1960s in from the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons.
"Strontium-90 is also found in waste from #nuclear reactors. The accident at the #Chernobyl nuclear power plant introduced a large amount of Sr-90 into the environment. Strontium-90 was also released during the 2011 Japanese nuclear incident at the #Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
"Plants or crops growing in or near contaminated soil may take up small amounts of Sr-90 from the soil. Animals may ingest Sr-90 when eating plants. Strontium-90 can be inhaled, but ingestion in food and water is the greatest health concern. Once in the body, Sr-90 acts like calcium and is readily incorporated into bones and teeth, where it can cause #cancers of the bone, bone marrow, and soft tissues around the bone. Because Sr-90 acts like calcium, milk monitoring will be important after a large release."
#FukushimaWater #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #StopTEPCO #NoNukes #NoWar #TEPCOLies #OpTEPCO #PacificOcean #FukushimaAnniversary #FoodChain #Bioaccumulation
https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclide-basics-strontium-90
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#Fukushima's Contaminated Wastewater May Be A Bigger Problem Than Realized
Tom Hale, August 2020
"[A] new study published in the journal Science suggests this plan is currently a riskier move than previously assumed.
"Marine chemists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution argue that #tritium is not the only problem after finding that other isotopes including carbon-14, #cobalt-60, and #strontium-90 still remain in the treated wastewater.
"'The concentrations of these radioactive isotopes are orders of magnitude lower than tritium but highly variable from tank to tank,' the study authors write.
“More than 70 percent of the tanks would need secondary treatment to reduce concentrations below that required by law for their release,' they added."
#FukushimaWater #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #StopTEPCO #NoNukes #TEPCOLies #OpTEPCO #PacificOcean #FukushimaAnniversary
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In addition to all that, exposure to #Cobalt-60 can cause sterility and fungus infections. Lovely...
"Because it decays by gamma radiation, external exposure to Co-60 can increase cancer risk. Most Co-60 that is ingested is excreted in feces; however, a small amount is absorbed by the liver, kidneys and bones. Cobalt-60 absorbed by the liver, kidneys, or bone tissue can cause cancer from internal exposure to gamma radiation."
#FukushimaWater #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #StopTEPCO #NoNukes #TEPCOLies #OpTEPCO #PacificOcean #FukushimaAnniversary
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But hey, don't worry about the Cobalt-60 in "treated" #FukushimaWater! #TEPCO didn't even mention it until pressed...
Sterilizing effects of cobalt-60 and cesium-137 radiation on male sea lampreys
By: L.H. Hanson, 1990
"Male spawning-run sea lampreys Petromyzon marinus were exposed to various doses of cobalt-60 or cesium-137 radiation in an attempt to sterilize them for use in a program for controlling sea lampreys through the release of sterile males. Males captured and irradiated during the early part of the upstream migration were not effectively sterilized at the doses tested. After irradiation, the sea lampreys were more susceptible to fungal infections by Saprolegnia sp., and many died without attempting to spawn. Males captured and irradiated during the middle and late parts of the spawning migration were effectively sterilized at a dose of 2,000 rads. However, some radiation-induced mortality was observed in males captured and irradiated during the middle part of the spawning migration. Radiation is not as effective as the chemosterilant bisazir for sterilizing male sea #lampreys."
#FukushimaWater #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #StopTEPCO #NoNukes #TEPCOLies #OpTEPCO #PacificOcean #FukushimaAnniversary
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Their unheard voices: The fishermen of #Fukushima
Mitsuhisa Kawase
20 December 2021"In April 2021, the Japanese government decided to discharge radioactive water stored inside the #TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station into the Pacific Ocean. TEPCO’s plan is to build a pipeline along the ocean bed and release diluted processed radioactive water 1 km off the coast of Fukushima. In November, #Greenpeace conducted its 33rd Fukushima radiation survey since the nuclear disaster, during which we had the opportunity to interview local fisherman Mr. Haruo Ono. Mr. Ono opens up about the pain he feels, saying that discharging radioactive water into the ocean will throw Fukushima’s fishing industry back down into the abyss.
"'How can such a thing be allowed to happen,' sighed Mr. Ono with a thick Fukushima accent. As he scanned the newspaper in his home, his eyes came to rest on an article and comments about the plan, announced by TEPCO the previous day, to discharge radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station into the ocean. 'The ocean’s alive, too, you know!' The hand that gripped the newspaper turned white..."
#FukushimaWater #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #StopTEPCO #NoNukes #TEPCOLies #OpTEPCO #PacificOcean #FukushimaAnniversaryRead more:
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/51822/unheard-voices-fishermen-fukushima/