Oil companies are ultimately to blame. After all, it was the Rockefeller Foundation who did the early radiation studies in the 50s, and then blatantly lied about the results to make radiation sound super scary. They claimed that there was no safe dose of radiation, and that any exposure, no matter how small, led to a direct, linear, increase in cancer risk.
And then the oil companies funded politicians who declared education to be the enemy, so now Americans don't know enough physics to know that every day, they are swimming in safe doses of ionizing radiation. That ocean water has millions of tons of natural uranium oxide dissolved in it.
US nuclear policy has been based off of these lies, it's part of why nuclear power is so expensive.
Those same oil companies actually paid to found Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to specifically advocate against nuclear power, by spreading fear and lies about how nuclear physics work.
The Rockefeller foundation still funds Greenpeace, and still requires that Greenpeace be anti-nuclear to receive that funding. All while being heavily invested in oil.
It's reasonable to be concerned about the long term health effects of tritiated water. It's very unlikely this will have any effects though. It's only like a few grams. I bet fusion power would produce a whole lot more, even through the blanket. That could have considerable local health effects.
More like, ignorance caused by my local news deciding to run a story telling people there is a controversy, without making a simple statement like the water is less radioactive than a banana. There's a controversy in part because the media encourages it, at almost every opportunity.
Most folks, including nuclear advocates, have little understanding of either fission products or neutron activation. They really have no need to. I don't think the data isn't there if you look for it though. It's just not simple to understand.
Similarly, the former mayor of Milwaukee is now the ambassador to Luxembourg. He didn't get that because he was qualified, he got it because he did favors for people in high places and it gets him paid to do literally nothing.
He’s a former Chief of Staff to Obama and the former mayor of Chicago. From what I know about him, which granted isn’t a ton, he has zero experience in international diplomacy aside from whatever he might have seen second-hand as Chief of Staff.
This will be fine for him but I am reminded of Thomas Midgely Jr who popularized using lead as an additive. He showed how safe it was by breathing in leaded exhaust fumes. He very shortly after took a vacation which was really just him recovering from lead poisoning.
Fuck that guy. His death was pretty hilarious though. He got polio and was largely bed ridden. He made a serious of pulleys to help himself work. He got tangled in it and accidentally hung himself.
I know too little about radioactive water and what the acceptable amount is for a person to eat through a fish that has been swimming in it
But holy shit can these stupid politicians who also don't know shit about it stop insulting everyone's intelligence with Simpsons (was literally an episode) like ways of convincing people.
I only trust well regarded scientists and experts, not some slimy politician. Literally kindergarten tier persuasion tactics.
In fairness there have been hundreds (750+) of Simpsons episodes so they're bound to have done some that line up with reality. I'm really sick of people saying the Simpsons predicted something considering those numbers.
Not really global warming but he was the main contributor to the hole in the ozone layer we are still fixing since he popularized CFCs as a refrigerant.
That strikes me as more sad than funny. I don't understand why you would screw yourself over so thoroughly just to try and convince the world that you didn't screw them over. Everyone loses.
Japan began releasing more than 1 million metric tons of radioactive water from a wrecked nuclear power plant on Thursday, prompting widespread concerns over contamination and safety.
The decision to release the wastewater has been a controversial one, sparking protests in Japan and further afield in South Korean capital Seoul from antinuclear activists and those concerned about contamination.
The UN has backed Japan’s assessment of the situation, with the organization’s nuclear regulator saying it is safe to release the water, and that doing so will have a negligible impact on environmental health.
Protesters gathered in Japan and South Korea this week to push back against the release of the radioactive water, with much of the concern centering around possible contamination, particularly of seafood.
In July, a public survey found that 62% of South Koreans would cut back or stop eating seafood after the water was discharged, according to news agency Reuters—despite Seoul pledging to closely monitor the release.
In recent weeks, some consumers in China—Japan’s biggest export market for seafood—also questioned whether it would be safe to eat the country’s seafood products after the water was released into the ocean.
The original article contains 590 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 68%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
In 1990, as the BSE ('mad cow disease') crisis in the UK was unfolding and shortly after scientists had found proof that the disease could indeed cross species, the Agriculture Secretary John Gummer went on national TV to try to force his four-year-old daughter to eat a beef burger for the cameras, to convince the public to keep eating British beef.
Right, I'm not suggesting otherwise. I'm just observing that, for someone who remembers that time, seeing a politician eating for the cameras to prove some food is safe brings to mind this very specific unfortunate example.