According to The New York Times, Japan has released more than 11,000 tons (that's 22,000,000 pounds) of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean this week. What is "low-level?" Tokyo Electric says that the water has more than 100 times the radiation of the legal limit. But that's nothing compared to the water being pumped into the containers used to dump the water this week. Water with 1,000 times the legal limit will be filled into the containers used to dump this week's load.
While this may sound like a lot, the news article said that "[m]ixing radioactive water with uncontaminated seawater can lead to a rapid decrease in radiation levels," according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Still, the dumping has marine biologists nervous because the radioactive elements may be eaten by small fish, which in turn are eaten by larger fish, which means the problem may grow with time.
This all makes me wonder what will happen of the mighty Japanese seafood industry. Just like BP's oil spill caused economic havoc for Gulf Coast fishers, will this crisis be similar for their Japanese counterparts? --Philip Volmar
