SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - Japan to release contaminated Fukushima water into sea after treatment

Platapus · 04-13-21, 07:19 AM

If they do a long time duration dispersal over large areas of the ocean, the risks can be limited.

Tritium is not very radioactive and its decay is mostly beta particles. It also has a half-life of about 12 years and decays into H3.

There is no perfect solution to disposing of any radioactive material. But there are ways to mitigate the risks.

If, for example, they take 10,000 gallons of the already diluted and filtered waste water and evenly disperse that over, say, 100 sq miles of ocean away from the continental shelves, away from the major currents, and the risks to marine life should be minimal.

Do that 100 times in different open ocean zones over 20-30 years and you have taken care of a million gallons.

A controlled dispersal schema over deep oceans over a decade or three may be the best solution. Not a perfect solution, but I can't think of any other solutions that will work better.

In cases like this, they may just have to choose the least worst solution.

04-13-21, 07:19 AM	#4
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,397 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	If they do a long time duration dispersal over large areas of the ocean, the risks can be limited. Tritium is not very radioactive and its decay is mostly beta particles. It also has a half-life of about 12 years and decays into H3. There is no perfect solution to disposing of any radioactive material. But there are ways to mitigate the risks. If, for example, they take 10,000 gallons of the already diluted and filtered waste water and evenly disperse that over, say, 100 sq miles of ocean away from the continental shelves, away from the major currents, and the risks to marine life should be minimal. Do that 100 times in different open ocean zones over 20-30 years and you have taken care of a million gallons. A controlled dispersal schema over deep oceans over a decade or three may be the best solution. Not a perfect solution, but I can't think of any other solutions that will work better. In cases like this, they may just have to choose the least worst solution. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.