Fukushima Seawater Radioactivity Safe: Japan

Tests of seawater near Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant have not detected any radioactivity, the environment ministry said, days after treated water used to cool damaged reactors was dumped into the sea, Kaori Kaneko reported for Reuters.

Storage tanks for contaminated water have been a major challenge at the Fukushima Daiichi site that has sparked major debates both in Japan and internationally. I Photo: Gill Tudor I IAEA Imagebank Flickr

Japan started releasing water from the wrecked Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, sparking protests in Japan and neighboring countries, in particular China, which banned aquatic product imports from Japan.

Tokyo and scientific organizations say the water is safe after being filtered to remove most radioactive elements except for tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

Because tritium is difficult to separate from water, the Fukushima water is diluted until tritium levels fall below regulatory limits.

The ministry's tests of samples from 11 points near the plant showed concentrations of tritium below the lower limit of detection - 7 to 8 becquerels of tritium per liter, the ministry said, adding that it "would have no adverse impact on human health and the environment."

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