Press Statement by Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Specialist, Beyond Nuclear

Press statement by Kevin Kamps, provided as a part of Beyond Nuclear's press release re: the Japanese government's decision to dump 330 million gallons of highly radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant site:

“Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the Japanese government, and the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are trying to justify the oceanic releases as being of ‘allowable’ or ‘permissible’ radioactive concentrations, that will then further dilute in the Pacific. But ‘allowable’ or ‘permissible’ does not mean ‘safe.’ The U.S. National Academy of Science has long held that any exposure to ionizing radioactivity carries a health risk, no matter how small the dose, and that such harms accumulate over a lifetime of exposure. Thus, ‘dilution is not the solution to radioactive pollution,’ as Dr. Rosalie Bertell of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health warned decades ago. Dilution is a delusion, when bio-accumulation, -concentration, and
-magnification in the seafood supply is taken into consideration. Humans are at the top of that food chain, at risk of the most concentrated, hazardous internal exposures to ingested ionizing radiation.

American spokesmen — such as former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Dale Klein, and former U.S. Department of Energy official Lake Barrett — tapped by TEPCO to advocate for this tritiated wastewater ocean dumping, should be ashamed of themselves. So too should the Biden administration State Department, which has expressed support for this ocean dumping scheme in order to advance its own irresponsible pro-nuclear power agenda, which it shares in common with the Japanese government and the IAEA.

The claim is made that there is no more room for storing ever accumulating quantities of radioactive wastewater. So arbitrary property lines are taking precedence over what is an ongoing radioactive emergency? The nuclear power plant host towns of Futaba and Okuma are already largely uninhabitable due to extensive radioactive contamination, and in fact are being used to store very large quantities of bagged radioactively contaminated soil, leaves, and other materials gathered from across a broad region. The radioactive wastewater should be stored in robust containers on solid ground for as long as it remains hazardous, even if this means beyond the arbitrary confines of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant property line.”

List of relevant Beyond Nuclear and other backgrounders

List of relevant Beyond Nuclear and other backgrounders, provided to complement Beyond Nuclear's press release re: the Japanese government's decision to dump 330 million gallons of highly radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant site:

Tritium: a universal health threat released by every nuclear reactor

March 2010

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Radiation and Harm to Human Health

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http://archives.nirs.us/radiation/tritium/tritiumhome.htm

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Routine Radioactive Releases from U.S. Nuclear Power Plants.  An update to our comprehensive list and map of all operating U.S. reactors and where they release radioactivity into the air and water. Every nuclear power reactor dumps radioactive water, scatters radioactive particles, and disperses radioactive gases as part of its routine, everyday operation.  It doesn't take an accident.  Federal regulations permit these radioactive releases.  Any exposure to radiation increases the risk of damage to tissues, cells, DNA, and other vital molecules, potentially causing genetic mutations, cancers, leukemias, birth defects, and reproductive, cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune system disorders.

The pamphlet lists all reactors operating at the October 2015 press time.  For an up to date track of reactors as they close, please visit our Reactors Are Closing page.

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http://www.beyondnuclear.org/reports/

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Routine Releases: Tritium and noble gases

January 2009

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Radiation Basics: The what, why and how of radiation damage

March 2010

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• Risks to Women and Children_Palm Card
  A Beyond Nuclear Palm Card December 2016
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• Risks to Women and Children From Nuclear Reactors
  A Beyond Nuclear Fact Sheet December 2016
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• Nuclear Power and Children
  This fact sheet details the particular dangers radiation exposure poses to children's health

Press statement from Cindy Folkers, Radiation and Health Hazard Specialist, Beyond Nuclear

Full press statement by Cindy Folkers, provided as a part of Beyond Nuclear's press release re: the Japanese government's decision to dump 330 million gallons of highly radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant site:

"TEPCO wants us to believe that the radioactive contamination in this water will be diluted in the ocean waters. But some of the radioactive isotopes, like strontium-90, which our bodies mistake for calcium, will concentrate up the food chain. And depending on where at the shoreline this water is dumped, some of the contamination may not travel out to sea and can double back on itself depending on wind and weather patterns. Dilution doesn’t work for radioactive isotopes particularly tritium which research shows can travel upstream.

Further, the radioactive isotopes remaining in the water can have special negative impact on women and pregnancy. Tritium and carbon-14 can concentrate in fetal tissue at twice the amount they do in maternal tissue. Strontium seems to collect more in women’s bodies than men’s.

In June 2020, nearly 80 groups from around the world signed and submitted a letter to METI, asking them to not dump this water contaminated by man-made radiation into the Pacific and countless others signed petitions and submitted comments in the decade since this nuclear catastrophe began. This whole mess is a human rights violation of the first order and sets a horrible precedent that seems to reward the nuclear industry’s careless arrogance."

Government OKs discharge of Fukushima nuclear plant water into sea

As reported by The Japan Times.

Fukushima Wastewater Will Be Released Into the Ocean, Japan Says

The government says the plan is the best way to dispose of water used to prevent the ruined nuclear plant’s damaged reactor cores from melting.

As reported by the New York Times.

The New York Times also ran a companion piece, focused on the official international protest of the ocean dumping, as by the neighboring governments of South Korea, China, and Taiwan.

The Washington Post has also reported on this story.

Thom Hartmann interviewed Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps on his national radio show ("Fukushima Nuclear Fish Coming to Your Plate, Happy?"). Here is the write up:

More nuclear waste is about to be released into the Pacific Ocean from Fukushima. Where it will be absorbed by plants, eaten by small fish, who are eaten by bigger fish, and concentrated through a process called "bioaccumulation." Pretty soon those fish end up on your plate... Looking forward to a swim off the west coast? Enjoying your fish?

Here is the link to the recording of the interview.

[Corrections: The actual volume of radioactive wastewater to be dumped in the ocean is currently enough to fill around 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools; the dumping is not set to begin until a couple years from now, not before the Tokyo Olympics.]