Japan Is Releasing Wastewater Into the Pacific: What to Know About Radioactivity and Seafood
Early afternoon local time on Thursday, after years of questions and criticisms directed at the plan, Japan has begun the controversial release into the Pacific Ocean of water previously used to cool the reactors at the defunct Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant after they were damaged in 2011 by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
The 1.3 million metric tons of treated wastewater—enough to fill more than 500 Olympic-size swimming pools—are currently stored in more than 1,000 tanks at the site of the power plant, and it is expected to take up to four decades to finish emptying all of it into the sea.
