If you’ve been following the news, you’ll have noticed that Japan started discharging its tritiated water into the ocean last week, over the objections of China and South Korea and with the concurrence of the International Atomic Energy Agency. I noticed there were a few comments on my recent ACSH piece on this matter and thought I’d address a few of the points raised in the comments.
Fukushima
There have been three major accidents at commercial nuclear reactors – Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986), and Fukushima (2011). Let’s take a look at each of these accidents to see what happened.
Japan is planning to release tons of water from the Fukushima nuclear site into the Pacific Ocean – water contaminated with tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen. This has led to protests by China, South Korea, Russia, and other nations; an outcry from a variety of environmental groups … not to mention seafood lovers concerned about the safety of their sushi. Given these concerns, it seems reasonable to dig into the subject a tad to see how serious a concern this is.
Fear of nuclear energy is ingrained in us, thanks to the A-bomb and the Cold War chill when nuclear winter seemed very real. Now however we should realize that nuclear energy means cleaner and actually safer energy for our growing needs, despite fear-mongering such as that in the Lancet last week.
Anti-nuclear activists demand that California s last electricity-generating nuclear reactor the Diablo Canyon plant be shut down based on a host of illusory concerns. But do their claims about the risks to human health and the environment really hold water?
ACSH advisor and expert on nuclear energy and ionizing radiation, Dr. Jerry Cuttler, gave a presentation at a recent 7th International School on Nuclear Power in Warsaw. His forceful, science-based campaign to demystify nuclear issues is a must-see.
An op-ed in today s New York Daily News calls for attention to be paid to nuclear energy. This would help fill our energy needs without any impact on climate. It is posited as a message to the masses streaming to New York for the climate march this Sunday.
The death of Masao Yoshida from esophageal cancer was announced by the company he helmed during the March 2011 disaster, Tokyo Electric Power.