Fukushima’s Nuclear Wastewaters Have Been Released. Now What? | Insight | Full Episode

Japan has completed phase one of wastewater release from the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster. Despite assurances from the government and IAEA representatives that the water’s radioactive particles, specifically Tritium, are not harmful, many in Japan and the region are not appeased.

Insight’s Genevieve Woo travels across Fukushima to find out what has happened since the release. She finds fishermen off the coast of Japan who are worried about their livelihoods. Meanwhile, China and Hong Kong seafood curbs continue. What repercussions will the wastewater have on Japan and its neighbours? What has happened one month after the water release? And does the data support further release of waters?

00:00 Introduction
01:30 Activists protest discharge of radioactive water
05:34 Treating radioactive wastewater before release
08:07 Fukushima's fishermen unhappy
13:00 Impact on Fukushima's tourism industry
17:59 People living near the plant react to the release
23:42 How much radiation is there really?
28:18 Distrust towards TEPCO and the Japanese government
35:08 China's import ban on Japanese seafood
37:13 Does the rest of Japan have fears about the wastewater release?
42:41 Japan's future nuclear power plans

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ABOUT THE SHOW: Insight investigates and analyses topical issues that impact Asia and the rest of the world.
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[Cellpeg]

If the contaminated water is so safe, why don't Japan use the water for their farmlands. Go figure.

[chiwong]

The contaminated water (or treated water as Japanese called it) from Fukushima is not only contained tritium, it contains tens of difference types of radioactive elements, which some of them have their half-life over thousands of year. Method of removing radioactive particles from a host still remained as a challenged subject in science, not mentioning use it in industrial scale. If Japan government and their scientists really done it as they claimed, they should be awarded with Noble prize, get the pattern of IPR and make a colossal amount of money.

Furthermore, Japan is not a country have abundant of freshwater. Why their government not use these "treated water" for their advantages such as drinking, washing and cultivating their lands, instead of dumping these useful resources to the ocean. It just not make sense!!! Unless the Japan government is fear of these "treated water" and just want to get rid of it in the cheapest way.

[goodasa]

Japan should show us that households, agriculture and domestic factories use the water from ALPS as a promotion. Then all these debates and argues will disappear. People are busy and no time to study for this. We have so many issues around us. Just show us it is totally safe and any reports, any lectures from experts are NO required. All reports, experts already got contaminated by NOT Nuclear but Politics. I just want to see it is safe with my own eyes. And that's it.

[DreamyCheshire-uprf]

Latest update : As at 27/10/23, the 2 staffs with high radioactive readings on their naked bodies due to direct exposure to the waste water, even though they were wearing full protective clothing were still "hospitalise". TEPCO remained quiet about the follow-up investigations of the accident. Another cover up ?

[bobbuilder]

If the water is safe, Japan government should have used the water for irrigation and agricultural purposes.

[chongcarol]

If it is so safe, those people who are involving in the decision should make it their drinking water or use it for their own farmand, not releasing it into the sea, and make their neighbors to have them as well.

[DreamyCheshire-uprf]

On 25/10/23 ( Wednesday ) 11.10 am, 5 staffs from Fukushima nuclear plant were exposed to "treated water from nuclear core liquid waste". Of the 5 staffs, 2 might need to be sent to hospital for further treatment due to high radiation readings on their bodies despite wearing full protective clothing.

[vincentgoh]

My 5 cents. Personally I find this to be one of the weaker episodes which CNA has produced over the years. It could be more useful perhaps if the CNA could perhaps elicit a response from the expert team on their thoughts relating to whether all contaminations, radioactive or otherwise, were indeed totally removed from the water save Tritium - since this is the main propagated argument from opponents -, whether there is an actual difference between waste cooling water and radioactive contaminated water - ie the water interacting with the actual radioactive rods, and finally what are the findings of domestic NGOs regarding their water monitoring results - since one of the critical point per opponents is that the base data including that of IAEA fundamentally comes from TEPCO or Japanese government sources.

Answers to these from a reputable neutral network like CNA can probably dispel most of the internet misinformation.

BTW, most Japanese do not patronise Tsukiji so they are likely selling predominantly to foreigners, and Japanese, being Japanese, will likely give a politically correct answer when a fairly nationalistic question is asked to them.

[echongkan]

I wonder, if the water is only for cooling, why can't it be recycled to keep cooling with the same water over and over?

[nightowl]

We are discussing 1.3 million tonnes of Fukushima water, which is probably going to collect along other countries' shorelines. Few generations down the road, if discovered massive death was due to such incident, no one is going to take responsibility because these careless people won't be around by then. Why not use this safe water for factory operations, car washes, gardening, etc. rather than discharging it into the ocean? It just goes to demonstrate how their internal recycling process was impeded by their anxiety and uncertainty, which led them to discard the Fukushima water into the ocean. Nobody ask the Mayor or TEPCO such question.

[ArnoldSmithFergusson]

It'll be beneficial and insightful for the viewer if CNA bring several samples water from sea and river then test it at independent lab. Not just interview.

[maggie]

As the fisherman said, they should have stored or store the water until radioactivity has gone, does not matter how many years. Terrible they are doing this to Japanese people.

[金宝扬]

just be transparent and allow international scientist to conduct lab test and their findings, this is to reestablish confidence to the general public, dont hold anything back is the key to regain trust.

[martingoodman]

In fact, the water released was so harmless one could use the water in the tanks for drinking water with ZERO risk of any harm from the trivial amounts of radiation in it. Note that there is no recorded case in history of anyone being harmed by the feeble radiation from tritium... and this despite tons of it being made for use in thermonuclear weapons. I'm a physician who has personally studied all of the major examinations of biological effects of radiation on humans conducted over the last 100 years, and much of the discussion of same. I'm also trained in the sciences... at Harvard. The tales told by hysterical liars such as Greenpeace of danger from that water are 100.00% entirely falsehood. It's hardly surprisoing that those here allgeing there was some threat from the water neglect to mention their medical and scientific qualifications... either in general or more importantly with respect to issues of biological effects of radiation on humans. Hysterical and entirely baseless fear of radiation is the norm, thanks to the hundreds of millions spent per year by the fossil fuel companies, in part, who know that only nuclear power poses a threat to the continued dependence on their products. And thanks to contemptibly fake and fraudulent "environmentalists" who, either paid off by the fossil fuel companies (as was the case with the Sierra Club and NRDC) or simply from massive dogma and faith-based ignorance oppose nuclear power and baselessly fear radiation.

Note I have all my life been a (far) leftist, a fighter for social justice, for free medical care for all, and for extensive and sound management of public health, and vocal when there are REAL public health threats (such as those from lead paint, and lead and other toxins in the water in Flint and elsewhere). Deadly to effective efforts to improve public health is the dissemination of hysterical lies, such the radio-phobic hysteria about the harmless water in those tanks at Fukushima, or the (entirely totally harmless) trivial amounts of radiation released by US above ground low yield nuclear bomb testing in Utah and Nevada, or insane hysterical claims of harm from the totally trivial and harmless amounts of radiation released after the Three Mile Island and Fukushima accidents.

Radiation is basically harmless, for near all intents and purposes and real world situations, but FEAR of it is massively deadly:

2000 people died in Japan due to a totally needless rapid evacuation of the area around the Fukushima accident, despite the UN World Health Organization AND an independent research team that published in Nature (one of the most respected peer-reviewed journals of science and medicine) which found that so little radioactive Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 (the two main potentially problematic isotopes) was released in the Fukushima melt downs that there was ZERO chance of any increased risk of cancer or other disease to ANYONE... even one living a kilometer from the accident. But people in intensive care units were evacuated, stacked up in high school gyms, and DIED by the hundreds, in hysterical and deadly reaction to fear of NON EXISTENT danger from radiation.

In western Europe, 100, 000 to 200, 000 women elected to have abortions for otherwise wanted pregnancies when they heard criminally irresponsible news reports of a "plume of radiation" wafting over toward them from Chernobyl. There WAS a "plume" of radiation that DID waft over... but the levels of radiation in it were a fraction of normal background radiation. THAT the news did not mention. Pregnant survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings received 1000 to 10, 000 and more times the dose of radiation of that people exposed to the Chernobyl "plume" got. Their new born babies were found to have NO higher level any issues that could even remotely be related to radiation exposure than a control group of similar folks who were not exposed to the bomb's radiation. These babies... and their mothers... were followed for FIFTY YEARS, medically, and compared to the control group, and over all that time there was NO greater prevalence or incidence of any medical issue that could remotely be related to radiation exposure.

Again: Radiation is for near all intents and purposes ENTIRELY harmless to humans (at worst). But hysterical and ignorant fear of it is HUGELY deadly.

[jessicanobody]

If the Japanese Government is 100 % confident with the water's safety, use the water domestically. If people from the rest of the country support their act as well, take a flight to Japan and import their seafood to show your support.

[workgather]

It isn't just about Fukushima. Releasing contaminated water into the ocean makes it a global event. Other nations, other nuclear waste, other food supplies from the oceans are involved. Where does it all go? The currents take it to the rest of the world. It doesn't just stay in your current map. The outer waters of every current can go into other current streams. One question I keep asking is whether radiation is heavier than water. Does the radioactive water sink to the bottoms of the oceans? How can we test for radiation if we only test the top of the water? What about everything we eat from the oceans? Plants absorb contaminated air, water, soil, etc. What about seaweed? You shared the effects on fish that were closest to the contamination, and shared that most effects will not be discovered for many years and generations - of plant and animal life as well as human life. What are the effects we need to think about? What were the effects of radiation when the nuclear bombs were first dropped in Japan during the war -- when the power of nuclear energy was first discovered? If an earthquake caused this disaster, what about all the other nuclear plants across the globe - what happens if there are quakes that destroy them? Why anyone thinks nuclear energy is "safe" is beyond my ability to

[bacon]

The scariest part is when the Geiger counter is going crazy from high readings and the scientist laughs it off and says it’s ok. Very sad days

[LifeHacksProducts]

The irony is when Japan decided to release the water, Japan didnt consult the neighbouring countries but instead acted on the approval by USA 😂😂😂

[jameswong]

Can anyone undo the adverse effects later on people around? They have already admitted that there are radioactive substances in the water but just claimed that "it is treated and safe according to standards". Standards are only "best known parameters" suggested by the so-called experts now. Can they guarantee? Or just have lines of fine print disclaiming responsibilities to cover themselves. Who will bear the responsibility for the victims affected by these radioactive waters after 5 or 10 years? If it is so safe and harmless, all these "Safe radioactive water" should be reused by TEPCO and, especially the politicians in Japan and not continuously releasing tonnes of radioactive contaminants to the world. Japanese politicians are irresponsible by forcing the world to take a hazardous risk that may affect the generations to come.

[scsay]

Finding it hard to trust Japan as they have never been truthful, with many hidden lies, and never apologise their evil deeds and actions