Tracking Radionuclides In Ocean Currents & Eddies

Fukushima Daiichi's disaster in 2011 was the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. On Netflix, 'The Days' is respectfully, rubbish and doesn't provide any insights. It's a drama. Google and Netflix docufilms aren't grad school. Nevertheless, I binged 'The Days' and sifted through tons of available information. 

I didn't pay much heed about this in 2018. But now, I am. I already refuse to touch all tuna and especially bluefin tuna. I need to decide if I want to continue eating fish caught in Japan's waters after the IAEA's approval of Japan's proposal to incrementally release a million tons of treated radioactive water (except for tritium) in the shared oceans over three decades. 

Stockpiling seafood, I get it. You fear contamination. You want the good times to last forever. But that's going to run out. And seriously, how long can you freeze seafood anyway. That's just fear-mongering at work. 

However, I was utterly bemused by South Korea's high salt prices and the government having to release its salt reserves to stabilize the prices because the country is stockpiling salt. South Korea has banned Japanese seafood imports from Fukushima since 2013, and isn't planning to change that. 

And when China threatens to blanket-ban Japanese food imports due to safety concerns, half the world sniggers, but takes note of their reasons.  

News outlets, including NPR, registered South Korea's opposition lawmakers and China (and North Korea too) vehemently opposing Japan's plan and protesting IAEA's approval.

The safety of Fukushima's wastewater has been a sensitive issue for years between the U.S. allies. South Korea and Japan have been working in recent months to repair relations long strained over wartime historical grievances to address shared concerns such as the North Korean nuclear threat and China's assertive foreign policy.

I'm neither a scientist or a researcher versed in marine biology and ecosystems. Neither am I a physicist. My understanding of science is basic, as every other average human being possesses. But I have sufficient processing power to read the theories and arguments for and against the gradual release of treated radioactive wastewater, as well as make personal consumer decisions. 

An essay published in May 25, 2023 by the National Geographic also puts forth the concerns of the scientific community and marine radiochemists. The effects on fish and the marine ecosystems will be unprecedented, and would take decades to document. They're skeptical that Japan is able to treat all the tanks evenly to reduce the radioactivity of the  isotopes. 

Now, American scientists are raising concerns that marine life and ocean currents could carry harmful radioactive isotopes—also called radionuclides—across the entire Pacific Ocean. 

“It’s a trans-boundary and trans-generational event,” says Robert Richmond, director of the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawaii, and a scientific adviser on the discharge plan to the Pacific Islands Forum. “Anything released into the ocean off of Fukushima is not going to stay in one place.” 

Richmond cites studies showing that radionuclides and debris released during the initial Fukushima accident were quickly detected nearly 5,500 miles away off the coast of California. Radioactive elements in the planned wastewater discharges may once again spread across the ocean, he says.

From National Geographic, 25 May 2023.

Is it an irrational decision to even consider not buying seafood from Japan? Not really. I eat A LOT of fish and I buy loads from Japan's waters. Since 2011, I have intentionally decreased the amount of sashimi and sushi ingested, as much as I love them. I rarely take shellfish, so it's of no loss to me to decrease seafood intake. It's the fish that I care about. Twice a week sushi and sashimi meals became once a week, then twice a month, then once a month, then once in three months, and by now, it's like... once in six months.

As it is, we're overfishing already. The quality of fish in the markets has deteriorated through the years. What I tasted as a child and handled raw, are quite different from what I see now. Fish around Japan's waters do have a risk of being contaminated more than the others in the ocean. Cooking it thoroughly usually helps with every thing. STILL.

Statistics from the National Cancer Institute indicated that, "By 2040, the number of new cancer cases per year is expected to rise to 29.5 million and the number of cancer-related deaths to 16.4 million." Cancer among people we know is quite the common ailment now. I'm quite sure I already have microplastics in my body. I just don't know how much other chemicals and metals are in there too. Going vegetarian isn't the answer either. Chemicals leach into soil, and it's a hard battle for the farmers small and commercial alike, to maintain the integrity of their produce and keep their business afloat. 

The ocean isn't a dumping ground. But we're conveniently treating it as such. We will reap the environmental consequences in the decades to come.