Japan’s Prime Minister ate fish caught off Fukushima’s coast on Wednesday to alleviate fears after the controversial release of water from the disabled Ōkuma nuclear power station.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and three Cabinet ministers enjoyed sashimi fished off the coast of Fukushima at a lunch meeting on Wednesday, in an apparent effort to dispel safety concerns following the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.
According to Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who was at the lunch meeting, Kishida and the three lawmakers sat down to a spread of flounder, octopus and seabass as well as boiled pork, fruits and various vegetables in the leader’s office.
“We eat in support of the Sanriku Joban region. All seafood items from Sanriku Joban are full of appeal,” Kishida told reporters who were invited to film the meal.
This is such a non-issue it’s ridiculous. There is honestly more of a danger from heavy metals in the fish they ate than from radiation. Tritium is a very, very low level beta-emitter, and at the concentrations they’re releasing (less than 1500 Bq/L, ~4E-8 Ci/L), drinking nothing but water contaminated at that level for an entire year would yield a dose rate of less than 4 mrem/year (based on the NRC math that 60,900 pCi/L for a year yields a dose of 4mrem). For context, 4 mrem (40 μSv) is the amount of exposure you receive in a flight from NYC to LA.. That is damn near a rounding error on the average yearly exposure to members of the public.
But people gotta be scared because Joe Public doesn’t really understand radiation, and fear sells.
As someone who loves sashimi, I’m secretly hoping that demand will drop sufficiently so that prices will be lowered.
For me the fish would have to be flown in from Japan. Which would expose the fish to more radiation than the water. Hmmmm
I wonder how many more public people would scream to stop eating fish if you told them that fish has mercury in it
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It amazes me that this story has continued to ruin in the media, it’s simply fear mongering nonsense to suggest that the extremely diluted minor smidge of radiation that might be present in a water sample collected after this controlled release could in any way be dangerous.
You’re in more danger from radiation flying on a plane, and the media isn’t constantly screaming about how we should never ever get on a plane.
Honestly, it just depresses me. Anyone who’s looked at the facts for 30 seconds knows there’s zero story here, and yet the media continue to assume we’re uneducated idiots who can be easily manipulated into being scared of the big bad radiation.
FUD about nuclear has been standard in the media for decades
Spread fear, get clicks. “If it bleeds, it leads” has been an adage in journalism for decades.
That’s what happens when you keep the monsters unknown. Instead of actually telling people what it actually is, you just say “this very VERY bad 100% dangerous” and the people will get paranoid about it
This sounds like that episode of The Simpson, except of course it’s safe duh.
First thing I thought of. Write an article when the fish start growing three eyes.
"Wait, sir! Not the spikey one! …
…Dammit, we lost him."
While I understand the science behind the release of the wastewater; I also really do understand why people are so willing to ban this.
It doesn’t matter if it is safe to eat or not. People have a right to not partake in fish from the Fukushima area. Nobody should have the right to conceal origin information about food items in general, particularly not when food may contain things that are potentially impactful to a person’s health.
40 μSv might be a “Safe” exposure over time; but that doesn’t mean it’s completely without health impacts. People are within their rights to avoid that extra dose if they feel the risk is unnecessary; no matter how small that risk may be.
40 μSv might be a “Safe” exposure over time; but that doesn’t mean it’s completely without health impacts.
It is, though. The water is literally less radioactive than normal ocean water.
I agree wholeheartedly about not concealing origin information when food may contain things potentially impactful to their health. The difference is that even drinking straight tritiated water (at the Japanese release concentration) as your only beverage for an entire year is 1/10th the exposure you would get from a single mammogram. There is zero potential for any health impacts from this release of tritiated water. I direct your attention to this well-sourced chart from Randall Munroe to give a good visual on different relative radiation doses. One year of drinking tritiated water at a concentration of 1500 Bq/L (the concentration its being released at, and about 1/10th of the WHO limit) gives a dose of approx. 40 μSv, the same as the cross country flight in the above graphic.
Okay, but are there verifiable health impacts? Because I haven’t heard of any so far.
Don’t worry if it glows, it’s natural
💀
I don’t get paid by anyone, and I downvoted you not just for your bad take, but also for your ableist language.
There is no conspiracy, you’re just an ignorant fearmongering clown that people rightfully disagree with.
Okay there’s a lot to unpack here, but mostly: WTF? Everyone is saying the water is safe because it’s safe. Also ever heard of timezones?
You literally get more radiation exposure flying from LA to NYC than you would from spending a year with your only beverage being water they are releasing. I don’t see you advocating for people to not fly cross country in order to reduce their exposure. Sounds like we got a shill for Big Plane right here.
