Is Food from Fukushima Radioactive Now?

It's been a few weeks since Japan started releasing treated wastewater from Fukushima's Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. A lot of news has covered it, but the information is all over the place. For those who don't know anything about nuclear power/contamination, deciding whether or not if our seafood will be safe is confusing. In this video, I dived into why there's wastewater in Fukushima and collected data on what the science says about this water.
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Credits:
Producer - Matthew Li
Production Assistant - Mana Chuabang
Script Supervisor - Russ Medcalf
Special thanks:
Louis Govier
Yusef Iqbal
Yeevonne Lim
Dylan Payne
Kevin Thomas
Brandon Goddard
Alkaya Massaly
Jamie Ahn
Music from Musicbed & Tom Fox
SOURCES:
NIKKEI - shorturl.at/rvIMR
US FDA - shorturl.at/swMR8
Reuters - shorturl.at/cyFY5
Office of Nuclear Energy - tinyurl.com/38djuvzd
The Conversation - shorturl.at/adeD6
Nuclear Newswire - shorturl.at/chDPR
Scientific American - shorturl.at/nxyKV
BBC - shorturl.at/bcmqF
Nature - shorturl.at/sNW13
The Guardian - tinyurl.com/286f44kv
NIKKEI - tinyurl.com/3tdcvmkd
NIKKEI - tinyurl.com/2x9knd73
USEPA - tinyurl.com/2s3jj7ns
IAEA ALPS - tinyurl.com/8sut5sak
CBC - tinyurl.com/5bsn5v77
The Guardian - tinyurl.com/34vp5ck3
Timestamps:
0:00 - Fukushima's water release
2:27 - How do we know Fukushima's water is safe?
4:27 - I know it's late
5:23 - Why do nuclear power plants need water?
7:18 - Fukushima nuclear disaster, explained
8:54 - What is Fukushima's water contaminated with?
9:41 - Is tritium a problem?
11:30 - What happens to the fish in Fukushima?
13:36 - TEPCO's lies
14:29 - Why is Japan releasing the water now?
16:07 - Why we need nuclear power
17:18 - Conclusion

[@offthemenuyt]

One thing in hindsight I wanna clarify is that when I talk about how overheating can turn nuclear reactors into bombs, I'm not implying the explosions would be on the same scale of an atomic bomb! In terms of explosive power, a nuclear power plant will not become an atom or hydrogen bomb! I suspect there'll be further nuances I might have to clarify or details to correct, given the complicated nature of all of this. So I plan to update this comment about future corrections/clarifications if necessary.

[@MonographicSingleheaded]

honestly I tend to agree and trust scientisits on such matters :) so it has never been an issue in my book, this whole "drama". I tend to also ignore all the political uses of such situation by default. so imho if they say it s safe, it is safe, they wouldnt poison their own people lmao. makes no sense. I still watch Your video, I have a feeling u r a man of facts, so lets go! XD should be informative and fun.

[@MonographicSingleheaded]

hey if it was Chinese or Russian governments tho, I wouldnt even try to trust them lol. but just by looking at the country of Japan I can tell I trust.

[@salernolake]

I want to clarify that the explosions were not nuclear, but were the result of the accumulation of hydrogen gas in the reactor vaults. The gas was produced in the reactors during the time when the fuel rods were temporarily exposed, producing temperatures that stripped the hydrogen out of the steam. Once there, all that was needed was a spark, and think of the Hindenberg happening in a confined space.

[@salernolake]

Speaking as an old retired nuclear power plant worker, I have to say your coverage of the subject matter was accurate, balanced and fair. I can safely say I possess a knowledge and personal experience of the subject far exceeding 99.9% of the population. You took on a technically difficult subject that would intimidate a Physics major, and got it right. Well done! I understand the reservations people might have about the introduction of tritium into the food cycle. There are three things to consider that I hope you find reassuring: 1) Tritium also exists in nature, albeit in minute quantities, generated by the action of cosmic rays on also naturally occurring deuterium (a.k.a. heavy water). The Fukushima waste water release will minutely and temporarily supplements that which already is out there. However the release is scheduled to occur over many decades. 2) The quantity of tritium at Fukushima is fixed to that which will be leached out of the reactor cores while they are there to be cooled. Once the cores are decommissioned over the next ten years, the accumulation of tritium will stop. 3) Tritium has a half life of 12 years, meaning that the problem is self-solving, unlike micro-plastics in the food supply. Also tritium is a low-energy simple radionuclide that decays only once, with low energy emission. This is in contrast with radionuclides like strontium 90, which undergo multiple decays, with much larger bundles of energy and particles released at each stage. By those metrics, tritium is a pretty benign product. Interestingly enough, the reactors I worked with in Canada used deuterium as both a coolant and a moderator. Deuterium has an extra neutron in the nucleus, and consequently can be converted to tritium much more readily than other reactor designs which use light (regular) water as a coolant and moderator. Canadian nuclear plants have water treatment plants that filter the coolant and moderator water to extract the tritium by distillation. We then sell the tritium for use in emergency lights. Having to deal with much more tritium meant that Canadian nuclear workers had to take precautions unique to the industry to stay safe. Long story short, you have bigger things to worry about in your food supply that tritium in the water supply!

[@eddiestilll]

Off The Menu is easily 1 of my favorite channels at this point. :) It combines culture and food and I always learn more about the world through this channel.

[@dropelaves]

Yo, I'm always shocked once I realize I'm watching "a video from that food channel with the asian guy". It really, REALLY feels professional af. Like something taken out of Business Insider or Wired, are the ones that come to mind. I hope you don't give up and that it pays off eventually (if not already paying off). Amazing quality content, I love it!

[@offthemenuyt]

"that food channel with the asian guy" is probably the funniest and most accurate description of this channel I'll ever hear

[@spin_ani]

Awesome video, you can tell you very well researched and that your passions pours into all your content!

[@worldsofpivotify]

Always a pleasure to see a new video from you

[@lauraqueentint]

wow, great production value! keep it up! really enjoying your videos :)

[@ninjanico7]

Another amazing video! Love your work :)

[@BrandonGalaxy7]

Really love the amount of research you do and the production quality of your videos, keep up the good work! Always producing videos on interesting topics as well, I pray for your success!

[@shakiMiki]

No need to apologise. It's was relevant & informative. Keep up the good work.

[@alkayamassaly4185]

I've watched quite a few videos about the Fukushima wastewater debacle, and despite this video being uploaded much later than the others, I feel like you gave us a really unique perspective and thorough rundown of what actually happened at the Daiichi nuclear powerplant from start to finish, which is what I've seldom seem from other videos. Bravo!

[@tachyqui]

WOW actually the video is realy great i love the fact that you tried something different !! Btw i'm part of the silent community never post a comment but the work and commitment you put in this video, i'm forced to encourage you. Keep working and doing great stuff like your videos !!!

[@tiefighter9027]

Bro went from explaining pastries to dissecting scientific and geopolitical topics, this is fantastic!!

[@ilyesselhabchi]

Awesome channel, I learn a lot of stuff in your videos thanks U, I hope one day you will made a video about history of differents alcools, Gin & Rhum for exemples are very interessing subjects to understand the history of our world and nowadays consumption

[@mmps18]

So well researched and presented!

[@theresemalmberg955]

Where I live in Michigan there are two nuclear power plants (Cook and Palisades) less than a hundred miles from my hometown. Prior to 9/11 Cook used to give free tours on how nuclear power generates electricity, and you are right, the power plant is essentially a giant tea kettle. The guide explained that the pipes that carry the steam that powers the turbine are separate from the pipes that bring in fresh cold water from Lake Michigan and that the two never mix. The steam escaping from the cooling towers is not at all radioactive. Now I don't know anything about the Fukushima set-up and to what extent it was damaged in the earthquake/tsunami so I can't comment on that; but living downwind of two nuclear power plants (well, Palisades isn't currently operating but may be back online soon) does not bother me nearly as much as the threat of tornadoes; and I don't think it really bothers most people around here. I once got a phone survey from someone representing some group that was concerned about nuclear energy and among the questions they asked was: if a nuclear power plant was to be built in your area, what do you think its impact would be on employment? On housing? On tourism? I said, there are TWO in my area, and one is a tourist attraction (this was before 9/11). They have had absolutely no effect on people moving in or out of the area; they have had some effect on employment as in they have created jobs; but otherwise nobody really even notices that they are there. There was a silence on the other end of the line. Finally the interviewer asked, "Where do you live?" I said "Michigan". The conversation ended at that point. It was clear that my answers were not what they were looking for: they wanted to hear that people would be fearful, that they would be opposed, that it would negatively harm the economy as well as the environment, and certainly they did not expect that one would become a tourist attraction! Not trying to downplay the very real issues surrounding nuclear power, but it can be generated safely.

[@MunninV]

shooting an idea, do one on maple syrup and the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist

[@plasticfood000]

The johnny harris of food culture

[@theresemalmberg955]

I also think it is interesting that people are concerned about eating seafood from Japan when there are so many rivers around the Great Lakes where people are cautioned against eating the fish there due to pollution. I've heard about some pretty strange mutant fish being caught in the Kalamazoo River, for example. And this was due to paper company waste chemicals being dumped in the river. True, there has been a campaign to clean up the Kalamazoo River and it doesn't stink the way it used to, but I think I'd much rather eat fish from Fukushima than from the Kalamazoo River. And don't even get me started on the Flint Water Crisis! The saddest thing of all is that it is far easier to buy fish that has been shipped halfway around the world than to buy fish from our very own Great Lakes and I can tell you there's some pretty good eating there--if you can find it or catch it.

[@danadurnfordkevinblanchdebunk]

Japan has a testing standard for radiation in food 5x more stringent than the EU, and 12x more stringent than the US.

[@fl0cu]

Thanks for researching this and trying to dispell some of the myths. But! Water moderated Nuclear power plants can never "become a bomb". At worst the core can melt down - which is what happened in Fukushima.

[@peterwang5660]

The thing is... it's not just tritium that's in the wastewater

[@Flutterbyby]

Johnny Harris would approve this video :) I thought I was watching Vox at one stage :)

[@filipeareias3265]

So why don't they drink the water?

[@syzygy321]

Unfortunately, most people still feel uneasy about eating japanese seafood after this incident. I think im gnna stick to eating norwegian salmon 😂

[@yaei252]

commenting for algorithm ❤

[@ElJosher]

so it is basically a non issue that is being blown out of proportion because geopolitics....

[@level70420]

Japan is now home to the world’s first glowblow fish..

[@soul-man]

So on paper it's okay. But no one knows after a few years down the road...??😮 Just like we tot we have thrown all our trash in a proper way by paid professionals, and yet some still end up in the sea. Lol I think scientifically it is safe, but to trust another who say they will release the water in the course of a few years just makes you wonder. Lol

[@madhukarg8052]

I want a Johnny Harris collaboration

[@manfromwuhan5876]

How much did they pay you?

[@munkor1]

They paid him in sushi

[@Paul_C]

You better worry about your own health with the American habit of GMO's.