Effects on Food and Environment
*These are my own thoughts and I have tried to fact check but I could be wrong. Politely let me know in the comments and I will change the piece if I agree.
In 2011 there was a disaster at the Fukashima Daiichi nuclear plant. As a side note there is a great creative non-fiction drama about this called ‘The Days’, worth a watch. As part of this they dumped a huge amount of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. At the time I remember thinking – oh shit.
All oceans move, none are static. They have a flow like the blood in our veins. In the Pacific water dumped out at Japan will reach America. It isn’t an if but a when. It is just the way the planet breathes. So that initial dump of radioactive and subsequent dumps have left tritium in the water. This is different to the Chernobyl, but it should noted that the ground contamination is worse in Fukashima. The disaster isn’t really talked about but it is bad.
Around Chernobyl the main issue is the alpha particles in the ground. The local population pick berries in the Autumn. They make a jam and eat it. Due to the radioactivity, they get thyroid cancer. Locally you are almost guaranteed to get thyroid cancer. But because the contamination did not reach the water table it never spread beyond the contamination area. There was an exception in Belarus. The seeding of rain clouds caused the issue to stop the contamination spreading to Moscow. but allowed it to cause contamination in Belarus. It could have been a lot worse though if they had not prevented it from hitting that water table.
At Fukashima the waste water is being dumped into the Pacific. If your country has a coastline with the Pacific then you are going to be affected.
So what is tritium? Well, it is a beta particle. It is not strong enough to pass through the skin. You have to eat or drink it. It is radioactive but is naturally occurring. It is like heavy water but no one knows if it is safe or not. And that is the problem.
Walmart has just recalled shrimp due to radioactive contamination. They haven’t said it is tritium but I would bet my hat it is. Obviously they are worried but with effects ‘unknown’ I find it scary as hell.
The problem is that this isotope can enter the food chain pretty easily. You eat the shrimp, you pee out the tritium and it enters the water table. Someone waters their plant and grows a vegetable and they eat the vegetable… And so it continues. In each case it gives ‘unknown’ effects. It is worse than a horror movie.
If you bury the shrimp, it gets into the soil. Then, it reaches the water table. As a result, the contamination continues. How do you stop it? I don’t know. If you burn it will it become atmospheric? So scary.
All I can say is maybe leave off the Pacific shrimp, just in case. As filter feeders they will gather contaminants. But are also a huge source of protein for people and other marine creatures. If a human eats the shrimp, then they become contaminated. The tuna, marine mammals, and sharks will also be contaminated. Honestly, any contaminant is scary but radioactivity is worse.
Tritium water seems to act a little like heavy water. Does it kill plants like it? I don’t know. Maybe there is a study somewhere but I haven’t been able to find it.
I never thought that I would see the day that a supermarket said, bring back the food, it is radioactive. But it has happened. And one thing ought to be remembered – this is our [humans] fault. No one has done this to us. We did this wanting more and more power.
Kate Murray - Cleaver 