Workers at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant has finally managed to plug a leak at the plant that was leaking highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. That is a rare bit of good news in a crisis that has been riveting the world.
However I question if this can even be called “good news.” This piece of news came after TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) officials at the plant had dump gallons of radioactive water from the plant into the ocean already. I mean you plug a leak of radioactive water in the plant and at the same time dump gallons of the same water into the ocean?
That is just wrong and I am not alone. Japan’s powerful fishing industry is up in arms over the dumping and not without reason. Radiation in the waters near the plant is now 7.5 million times above the legal limit and some fish caught in the area have traces of radiation in them. One Japanese fisherman say that if he had dump just a barrel of radioactive water into the Pacific, he would be in jail but TEPCO dump gallons of it into the Pacific Ocean and it is allowed.
I agreed with his sentiment. Now there has been no confirmation on how many gallons of radioactive water has been dumped into the Pacific, and TEPCO officials have been quick to say that the water would quickly dissipate in the vast Pacific, but frankly I don’t care!
No matter what TEPCO say, the fact is that they had dumped gallons of radioactive water into the ocean. So no matter how safe they say it is, there is no way I am eating anything from Japan anytime soon.
I also believe that the Japanese fisherman is totally correct; there is no way what TEPCO did was legal, so why aren’t TEPCO officials being arrested for the dumping? Maybe some people will argue that “it is for the greater good,” but that doesn’t mean what TEPCO did was legal right? TEPCO officers should be arrested for the dumping.
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