The risks of radioactive waste water release

Abstract

In 2011, the east coast of Japan suffered an earthquake and tsunami that resulted in the meltdown of three of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. This led to an uncontrolled release of large amounts of radioactive material to the surrounding land and to the Pacific Ocean. More than 10 years later, new releases of radioactive wastewater to the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima plant have started. The historical ocean contamination from Fukushima included large quantities of long-lived radioactive cesium-137 (137Cs), so there is widespread concern over these new wastewater discharges. However, these releases will result in much lower total radiation doses to people and aquatic ecosystems than the contamination caused by the accident (1–3). Furthermore, aquatic ecosystems, including those around the Chernobyl disaster site, have been shown to be remarkably resilient to radiation (4–7). Thus, the new Fukushima releases are not expected to cause substantial effects on seafood consumers or the marine ecosystem.