Why Fukushima is releasing wastewater into the Pacific Ocean

Huge volumes of radioactive water have accumulated on the site since a tsunami triggered a disaster there in 2011

Fukushima
Workers stand outside reactor 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
(Image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Jim Smith professor of environmental science at the University of Portsmouth explains why releasing the million tonnes of radioactive water is the best option as the site runs out of storage space and another disaster becomes more likely.

Over ten years ago, a tsunami triggered a disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on Japan’s east coast. After the accident, large amounts of radioactivity contaminated the ocean leading to the imposition of a marine exclusion zone and huge reputational damage to the regional fishing industry.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More