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It's really sad and frightening for me to see such hysteria in the media and even in the comments here. I want to address all of it, but it's not possible even to make a dent. But I can offer the following numbers:

  Fukushima release to groundwater
   TEPCO estimate, August 2013
     0.024 PBq (< 5g Sr-90) in 300 m^3 water

  Fukushima releases to the sea
   TEPCO estimate, May 2012
    11 PBq I-131
     3.5 PBq Cs-134
     3.6 PBq Cs-137

  Fukushima releases to air
   TEPCO estimate, May 2012
    500 PBq I-131
     10 PBq Cs-137
     10 PBq Cs-134
   NISA estimate, June 2011
    160 PBq I-131
     15 PBq Cs-137

  Chernobyl releases to air
   Wikipedia, retrieved Aug 2012
   1760 PBq I-131
     85 PBq Cs-137
And here's a picture of the leak http://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20130820/14/noraneko-okayam...

The highest seawater activity level I've ever seen reported is 650 Bq/L Cs-137. If it weren't for the salt, I'd drink it all week long.

Edit: Ongoing Fukushima coverage can't really be made interesting, but Leslie Corrice[1] and Will Davis[2] do a good job.

[1] http://www.hiroshimasyndrome.com [2] http://atomicpowerreview.blogspot.com



You're quoting a bunch of year or more old stats... there's been a flurry of recent news coverage because recent measurements have either exceeded past limits, or past measurements are now considered to have been underestimates, with respect to ocean release.

Example:

http://japandailypress.com/fukushima-bay-radiation-levels-hi...

>Reports from Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, say that measurements of radioactive tritium in seawater – seeping out of the nuclear complex via groundwater into the sea – show levels at 4700 becquerels per liter, the highest tritium level in the measurement history. The highest tritium levels have come in the past 15 days, the same reports show.

It is very very strange to be seeing such Tritium levels this late, it dilutes so quickly. It's so strange it's to even figure out probably causes.


No, I'm not missing recent events. Year-old stats are still valid because almost all the release occurred during the accident sequence in 2011.

I'll drink the 4700 Bq/L tritium water too. That level doesn't even exceed the WHO limit for drinking water (10,000) let alone the Finnish one (30,000) or Australian one (76,103). The 4.7kBq measurement was made in the quay in front of the plant, not the open sea. Rising tritium levels there may be a result of leaks of cesium-stripped water from the onsite treatment system, or simply natural variation in groundwater drainage from the site.

I don't want to get personal, but the way your post is written as if it comes from a place of knowledge, is a worthwhile example of a larger phenomenon.




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