The headlines are stress-inducing – based on what we know about Fukushima – the site of the destroyed nuclear plant after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that created a disaster in that country.
In the 12 years since, radioactive water has been building up around the plant, used to keep the damaged reactor cool. Now the company that owns it has a plan to release 1.3 million metric tons of that water into the ocean over the next 30 years. (Note: A metric ton, also written as tonne, is equal to about 2200 lbs, a bit larger than a US ton which is 2,000 lbs.)
The company says the water’s been filtered to remove the worst contaminants. Critics are skeptical.
We’ll take a look at what this means and the reaction of nearby countries, as a decades-long experiment begins.
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