On 11 March 2011 the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan caused a tsunami that resulted in catastrophic damage to the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. This overwhelmed the emergency generators providing power to the cooling systems, causing three nuclear meltdowns, three hydrogen explosions, and release of large amounts of water contaminated with radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean. Because the reactors, though no longer operating, still require cooling and because groundwater has also filtered into the site and become contaminated, the 350 million gallons stored are nearing the capacity of the more than 1,000 tanks, so water has to be released. Many of the radioactive isotopes can be removed (except tritium), especially the more hazardous ones such as cesium-137 and strontium-90. However, to bring tritium levels down the water will have to be diluted, therefore requiring some of the stored water to be released; this will take several decades.
The Japanese government has submitted its storage and release plans
to the IAEA, which after peer review believes the plan to be "consistent
with international safety standards." The IAEA intends to continue safety
reviews throughout the discharge phase. Many disagree with their
recommendations, but according to one expert at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, "their plan, unfortunately, is probably the least bad of a
bunch of bad options." However, the government of China has nonetheless
banned all Japanese seafood and agricultural products. China is the largest market
for Japan's aquatic exports. The good news is that no fish or shellfish off the
Pacific coast have radioactive contamination that would pose a risk to those
who ate them.
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