After much back and forth, and heated global debate, Japan started discharging Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean on August 24.
Japanese officials deliberately misrepresent nuclear-contaminated water as “treated nuclear wastewater.” Generally, nuclear wastewater refers to the water produced in the normal operation of nuclear power plants, such as nuclear reactor cooling water, which does not come into direct contact with radioactive materials inside the nuclear reactor. Nuclear-contaminated water, or radioactive wastewater, refers to the water that comes into direct contact with radioactive materials inside the reactor when the reactor is breached after a nuclear accident, and still contains a high concentration of radioactive materials. The nature of the two is different and they should not be confused with each other.
Twelve years ago…
The Fukushima nuclear accident is one
