Wastewater from Fukushima Nuclear Plant Could be Released into the Ocean
Japanese officials are considering releasing radioactive wastewater into the environment.
There are two options to do this. Either dump it into the Pacific Ocean or let it evaporate into the air.
There are environmental concerns with each possibility.
Over 1 million tons of radioactive wastewater is stored by the owner of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., and storage space is running out.
Dumping the wastewater into the ocean seems like the most likely option at this point. A move that local fishermen say will destroy the fishery in the area.
Another option that was conceived at one point was to store the wastewater in tanks outside the plant. However, fears of corrosion, tsunamis or other disasters proved that option would not be feasible.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was the most severe nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster and the only other disaster to be given the Level 7 event classification of the International Nuclear Event Scale.
The accident was started by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on Friday, 11 March 2011.
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