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Download AudioA world authority on nuclear waste says the release of water used to cool down the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant shouldn’t have a significant effect on the Pacific Ocean environment.
China banned fish imports from Japan after discharges of the treated water started last week, and there were also protsts from Japanese fishers and some Pacific Island nations.
Professor David Krofcheck from the University of Auckland says the measured radio active level in the discharge is below World Health Organisation standards for drinking water.
“So the water you took from the tap this morning to make your tea has a certain amount of this tritium radiation and the water that is being released from this Fukushima nuclear plant is also about seven to 120 times below that level of radiation from your tap water so it should be pretty safe right now,” he says.
Professor Krofcheck says people should be more concerned about seafood taken from around the testing sites of the Marshall Islands and Mururoa Atoll where radiation levels in the ground and sea floor are still high.
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