Is it safe for Fukushima to dump radioactive water into the sea?

Japan pumps contaminated water from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant right into the Pacific Ocean. An instant guide

About 3 million gallons of radioactive water from Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will be dumped directly into the Pacific Ocean.
(Image credit: Corbis)

Japan's government agreed on Monday to let the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant dump more than 3 million gallons of radioactive waste-water directly into the Pacific Ocean — a lesser-of-two-evils solution given that the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates the reactors, plans to use the emptied storage tanks to hold the much more radioactive water that's already gushing into the ocean through cracks in the reactors. But is it the best TEPCO can do? Here, a brief guide.

How contaminated is the water being pumped into the ocean?

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