Reacción a "Reactions to Japan's plan to dump treated wastewater from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean"

The Fukushima water discharge is not an event without precedent. Nuclear power plants worldwide have routinely discharged water containing tritium for over 60 years without harm to people or the environment, most at higher levels than the 22 TBq per year that is planned at Fukushima. 

For comparison, in South Korea the Kori plant discharged 91 TBq in 2019, more than four times the planned Fukushima discharge. Provided the levels of all dangerous radioisotopes are below regulatory levels, the planned discharge at Fukushima is very conservative. So the key question is do TEPCO accurately measure what is in the tanks to be discharged? 

The IAEA have carried out a series of missions. Their latest report, issued May 2023, reviews the determination of radionuclides in ALPS-treated water. Samples were taken from the first batch of ALPS-treated water expected to be discharged into the sea and independently analysed by TEPCO, by the IAEA at its labs in Monaco, Seibersdorf and Vienna, and in third-party labs in France, South Korea, Switzerland and the USA. The results show a very high level of agreement between all the labs. Importantly, neither the IAEA, nor the participating third-party laboratories, detected any additional radionuclides (i.e. radionuclides beyond what is included in the source term) at significant levels. 

The planned discharge is ultra-conservative.