Japan Begins Dumping 100s Of Tons Of Radioactive Water into

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the Pacific.

Yeah, so they aren't going to store it all in tanks anymore they'll just dump it into the Ocean.

"According to the Japan Times, Tepco released 560 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific on Wednesday, and Tepco says that for the foreseeable future we should expect another 100 tons of radioactive water to be released into the ocean every single day?"

Do you eat food from the Pacific???

"And it has been documented that radioactive material from Fukushima has been getting into the seafood being sold in North America.

For example, back in 2012 the Vancouver Sun reported that cesium-137 was being discovered in a very high percentage of the fish that Japan was selling to Canada?

? 73 percent of the mackerel

? 91 percent of the halibut

? 92 percent of the sardines

? 93 percent of the tuna and eel

? 94 percent of the cod and anchovies

? 100 percent of the carp, seaweed, shark and monkfish

So why was radiation testing for seafood subsequently shut down....?"

Just so ya know.

From Wikipedia: "About 95 percent decays by beta emission to a metastable nuclear isomer of barium"

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-137)

A lot of the headlines about the radiation at Fukushima left off the fact that most of the high readings were for beta-radiation, which doesn't penetrate water, skin or even thick clothing. I'm a little more concerned about the seafood contamination (although I'm vegetarian), but you'd need to know how much Cesium is absorbed. That's what could make it especially dangerous. Unfortunately, I would guess that it's absorbed pretty well:

"the biological behavior of caesium is similar to that of potassium."

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-1 ... ve_caesium)

It has a biological half-life of 70 days.

You're otherwise pretty safe from this sort of dumping:

Beta radiation won't pass through more than a few feet of water, so only the atoms near the surface (or within a few feet of you if you're scuba diving) could harm you. If the concentration is low to begin with, you may be at more risk sun bathing.

it will spread out and decay in less than a year
the more radioactive something is the faster it decays
people who freak out about radiation tend not to understand what radiation is, they seem to think its some kind of poison gas that never goes away

The Vancouver Sun article was baloney, as were all the reports of radioactivity hitting the Pacific coast at any time earlier than perhaps late last year. Have they found Cs-137 in some seafood? Yes, but the levels were so low that they needed specialized equipment to find it (and so low that they wouldn't give you any measurable radiation exposure). You should be much more worried about the mercury in your seafood than the Cesium.

As for the radioactive water leaking into the ocean: good, that's the best place for it. The ocean is massive, and will dilute the radioactive contamination to the point where it is completely harmless. 560 tons of water (not 560 tons of radioactive material) is nothing, and 100 tons a day is also nothing. It's like comparing a few pennies to the entirity of wealth in the world.

The Cesium will be around for quite some time; its half life is about 30 years. But there is way more radioactive cesium in the world from the atomic weapons testing during the cold war era than from Fukushima by several orders of magnitude. And even that does not result in enough radiation exposure to the population to make any kind of quantifiable impact.

The radioactive iodine that was released is already gone, so you can completely ignore the "we're all going to die of thyroid cancer" stories still making the rounds on Facebook.

Some other things to keep in mind:
There is a big difference between radiation and radioactive contamination. Think of it as the difference between dog sh*t (radioactive contamination) and the smell coming off of it (radioactivity). This may also be a good time to point out that sound waves, light, and magnetism are all forms of radiation as well (although there is a difference between ionizing and nonionizing radiation, which you can Google if you are interested).

You are exposed to ionizing natural background radiation at every single moment of your entire life. There is naturally occuring radioactive material in the soil, in the materials that make up your house, in your food, and in your bones. There is radiation bombarding you from space even as you read this. A shipment of bananas can set off radiation detectors at border crossings or in ports. Potato chips are one of the most radioactive things you can eat. Your body has naturally occurring radioactive carbon, potassium, uranium, rubidium, hydrogen, and radium in it right now. 8000 radioactive events take place in our bodies every single second, and most will not affect a single cell. To put that into perspective: 5,000,000 cells in our bodies die every minute and are replaced a number which remains relatively constant throughout adulthood.

Types of ionizing radiation:
Alpha particles can travel only a few inches in the air and lose their energy almost as soon as they collide with anything. They are easily shielded by a sheet of paper or the outer layer of a person's skin. Alpha particles are hazardous only when they are inhaled or swallowed.
Beta particles can travel in the air for a distance of a few feet. Beta particles can pass through a sheet of paper but can be stopped by a sheet of aluminum foil or glass. Beta particles can damage skin, but are most hazardous when swallowed or inhaled. Around 95% of the radiation from Cs-137 decay is this type of radiation.
Gamma rays are waves of pure energy (as are x-rays, the only difference being where in the atom they originate). They travel at the speed of light through air or open spaces. Concrete, lead, or steel block gamma rays best, but water also works fairly well. Around 5% of the radiation from the decay chain of Cs-137 results in this type of radiation.
Neutrons are small particles with no electrical charge. They can travel long distances in air but are released only during nuclear fission. Water or concrete offer the best shielding against neutrons.

Something else that may help put things into perspective (keeping in mind that Fukushima resulted in less radiation exposure to nearby residents than annual background radiation):
Estimated loss of life expectancy in days due to various causes:
Cigarette smoking (males) 2250
Dangerous job 800
Motor vehicle accidents 207
Alcohol (US average) 130
Accidents at home 95
Average job 74
Safest job 30
Natural radiation 8

You have likely spent far more time worrying about Fukushima than the amount of time (if any) that Fukushima will take off of your life.