Dumping of radioactive water into the Pacific

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2011-04-04 18:37

I just heard on the news that Japan dumped a massive amount of the radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean today because they had no other place to put it. How do these particles react with ocean water? Will they sink or move in the current to the western shores of North America? Thank you for all of your hard work.

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Original Poster, could you

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2011-04-04 21:35.

Original Poster, could you provide a news link supporting your claim that massive amounts were "dumped" into the Pacific? I heard of leaking over the last weeks due to cracks they are trying to fix, but have not been able to find information regarding a controlled dump.

I guess the term "massive

Submitted by LisaT (not verified) on Tue, 2011-04-05 18:26.

I guess the term "massive amounts" is relative. The leak was 7 tonnes (tons?) per hour, but I don't have time to look up the conversions.

Here's a reference to more than 3 million gallons of contaminated water dumped today to make room to store more contaminated water:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/04/japan-nuclear-plant-radiation_n...

Here's a reference to 11,500 tonnes of planned release:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/04/japan-nuclear-plant-release-...

Here's a news clip of the water dump...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-04-05 10:54.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0AqYjWHHw

Radioactive iodine at 7.5 MILLION times legal limit in water around Fukushima

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/0

Submitted by CME (not verified) on Mon, 2011-04-04 21:40.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/world/asia/05japan.html?_r=1&ref=world

Thank you. I think it's

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2011-04-04 23:47.

Thank you. I think it's important to note that this is low-level contaminated water, "only" 100 times above limit, which is nothing compared to the stuff that's been leaking over the last couple of weeks. It's unbelievably pathetic though that the international community hasn't been able to come up with storage containers to help avoid that Japan has to do that. WTF, humanity? Is it the Japanese not allowing others to help or is it the rest of nations not giving a damn?

Here's MY answer:

Submitted by R. Cromack (not verified) on Tue, 2011-04-05 00:14.

"WTF, humanity? Is it the Japanese not allowing others to help or is it the rest of nations not giving a damn?"

Just a guess, but here's MY answer to that query: Yes.

Rick Cromack
Allen, Texas
www.facebook.com/lonestarplano
RichardFCromackJr@gmail.com
972-746-8575

Yes to Japanese not allowing

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-04-05 08:27.

Yes to Japanese not allowing others to help, or yes to others not wanting to help? Can you show what you're basing your guess on?

I think the other poster

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-04-05 10:26.

I think the other poster meant yes to both statements.

I think that the current

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2011-04-04 18:48.

I think that the current moves towards the Pacific NW and then brances off to Alaska and California. I would have to think that it would very diluted by the time it reaches North America.

The more interesting question is, " Do large fish like Tuna migrate from Japan to North America? Do they go that far? Do fish migrate between Japan and Alaska? During the Pacific Nuke tests, many fish were contaminated.

I guess I found the answer

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2011-04-04 19:30.

I guess I found the answer to my question and I don't like it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/canada/1505564/Tu...

I think the real big

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2011-04-04 21:39.

I think the real big question is what happens to Cesium in the long run in the oceans.

Do fish absorb it and it gets concentrated up in the food chain (all the way to Tuna)? Or not?

When the first generation of big fish dies, do heavy elements sink to the bottom of the ocean after their bodies decompose? Or are they absorbed by other organisms before they can do so?

I really have no educated idea how this works and wonder if any marine life specialists could chip in...

I think the bigger question

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-04-05 10:31.

I think the bigger question is, what if plutonium is leaking in the ocean?

There is a reactor with MOX fuel, which contains plutonium.

http://www.dcbureau.org/201103151304/Natural-Resources-News-Service/is-a...

All the the reactors have

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-04-05 10:41.

All the the reactors have "some" plutonium in them.