The article's title could be the plot lead for the next Godzilla movie.
Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
41–50 of 184 posts
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Water which ... is nuclear waste as it is from a nuclear power plant that had a core meltdown? Of course wastewater would have been more specific, but in the end they ARE dumping nuclear waste into the ocean.
Nuclear waterwaste != nuclear waste. Water cannot be radioactive, and in fact water is a fantastic insulator for radiation. The water had contaminates in it and the argument is whether or not the current level of contaminates is safe. The article's title makes it sound like they're just going to dump the Elephant Foot directly into the pacific. It's clearly a sensationalistic anti-nuclear title edit.
> Water cannot be radioactive
To start, seawater has more things than water. Both Hydrogen and Oxygen have isotopes that can decay and emit radioactivity, so yes, water can definitely be radioactive, by definition. For a relatively short time because is not plutonium of course, but it can be.
And, unlike Plutonium, the problem is that life beings are mostly made of water and we didn't coevolved with a such rare element as tritium is in nature. Water is freely allowed to enter and travel and has granted access to every part of the human body. We trade a big danger for other, but this does not mean that radioactive water can't harm us.
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Richmod may be an expert in his field. But even he couldn't point to anything that could actually happen. His report, and that of his colleagues, is intentionally vague, with no predictions and lot of FUD. Seriously, there is not a single thing they point to and say: "This could happen!" It's almost as if tritium wasn't that problematic and they were trying to get people who payed them for the study at least somethin…
Then why not use it as a valuable source of the very expensive and non renewable Helium? It seems that they are trowing money to the sea after paying yet for storing it for the last 11 years.
> Then why not use it as a valuable source of the very expensive and non renewable Helium?
Same reason we don’t use nuclear reactors to turn lead into gold, even though we can: it’s far more expensive than it’s worth.
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, it’s all safe and fine as long as we don’t release the water into your own backyard and swimming pool.
Well actually, at 1/40 the regulatory tritium limit for drinking water, it is perfectly suitable for any backyard and/or swimming pool.
How did you arrive at that number? Going by one of the comments in this thread it would be 760 TBq of tritium, which would require 76,000,000 m^3 of water to get below the 10 Bg/m^3 limit of the world health organization.
(granted I don't know where the 760 TBq figure came from either, I'm just trying to get some clarity)
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Water which ... is nuclear waste as it is from a nuclear power plant that had a core meltdown? Of course wastewater would have been more specific, but in the end they ARE dumping nuclear waste into the ocean.
Nuclear waterwaste != nuclear waste. Water cannot be radioactive, and in fact water is a fantastic insulator for radiation. The water had contaminates in it and the argument is whether or not the current level of contaminates is safe. The article's title makes it sound like they're just going to dump the Elephant Foot directly into the pacific. It's clearly a sensationalistic anti-nuclear title edit.
While water is indeed a fantastic radiation shield, tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and quite capable of replacing normal hydrogen in a water molecule, so even pure water can absolutely be radioactive.
It’s one of the least dangerous radioisotopes out there, so I’m not particularly fussed, but it is incorrect to say water can’t be radioactive.
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#46Ah the typical insane discussion about anything even remotely connected to nuclear.
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then why not use it as a valuable source of the very expensive and non renewable Helium? It seems that they are trowing money to the sea after paying yet for storing it for the last 11 years.
It's 15 grams of tritium in total, so it won't generate much helium. Source: https://www.meti.go.jp/english/earthquake/nuclear/decommissi... [Q6]
Very interesting, thanks.
Another silly question. As is known that Tritium is bioaccumulative to the point of probably acting as a persistent organic pollutant, why they don't use biology to concentrate and eventually remove it from the tanks?. Or to keep it safely trapped in the tanks?
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quoted post unavailable.
Yes, I am a researcher and a Ph.D. student in the field of nuclear reactor physics. I regularly operate and do experiments on a research nuclear reactor. My name is in my hn username and I have no problem defending my claims. I also own a popular TikTok account where I do science communication about nuclear reactors. My information about the water discharge comes from reports by IAEA, who is the authority on the matt…
Thanks you for doing what you. We need every possible person to teach about nuclear issue. The amount of wrong information out there is just insane.
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#49What a disingenuous argument. Of course nobody can prove that this wouldn’t make the endangered Samoan saltwater frogs gay or something. But is this really a possibility that we need to be taking seriously?
Re: Japan’s plan to dump nuclear waste into the pacific ocean may not be safe
#50I am absolutely pro nuclear.
But I think that for every single invested or earned dollar from a nuclear facility a fraction must be reserved for storage, break down, clean ing etc. There should be an world wide independent institute setting these rules up. And all countries should follow them otherwise harse sanctions will follow.
Making mistakes with nuclear is unforgivable.