Unfortunately, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has nowhere else
to store the over 250 million gallons of contaminated water from the cooling
pipes used to keep fuel cores from melting after the tsunami from the Tohoku
earthquate in 2011 destroyed the plant. The tritium is going to be released
over a 10-year period.
Most of the radioactive elements have already been removed or reduced to
low levels by chemical treatment. The remaining isotope, tritium, emits a
low-energy beta particle that goes less than a centimeter in air and cannot
penetrate through the human epidermis. If ingested, however, it would irradiate
the epithelial lining of the GI tract. Tritium is naturally formed by cosmic
rays in the upper atmosphere and then rained out into surface waters. So far
studies have failed to document carcinogenic effects from tritium; it is
assumed nevertheless to be carcinogenic at high levels.
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