An international group of scientists from the UK and Australia evaluated the consequences of discharging purified radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan into the ocean. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Science.
In August 2023, Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) began draining more than 1.3 million tons of treated water used to cool the plant’s reactor after the 2011 earthquake. The process of releasing the fluid will take 30 years.
Experts from the University of Portsmouth in the UK, the Australian National University and Curtin University in Australia examined scientific data from past publications on radioactivity and radiation dose calculations carried out by independent researchers and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The team concluded that expected radiation doses to marine life and seafood consumers would be negligible and well below safety thresholds.
The main radioactive contaminant in wastewater is tritium, which exists in the form of tritium or ultraheavy water. Although tritium, like other radioactive substances, can cause DNA damage in the body, its low radiotoxicity greatly reduces the potential for harm.
“Our long-term studies have shown that the much more contaminated aquatic ecosystems near Chernobyl showed remarkable resistance to radiation, and populations of fish and aquatic insects thrived there,” explained Professor Jim Smith from the University of Portsmouth.
Researchers noted that the Cory nuclear power plant in South Korea discharged nearly twice as much tritium water into the sea as Fukushima-1, and the La Hague plant in northern France discharged 450 times more radioactive waste than the notorious Japanese nuclear power plant.
“The scientific consensus, supported by evidence, is that the Fukushima water release does not pose a serious threat,” the scientists concluded.
Previously at Rospotrebnadzor appreciated Impact of water discharge into the ocean from the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.