Taiwan Lab Finds No Contamination From Fukushima Wastewater Near Country
While many Taiwanese people remain concerned over wastewater released from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant reaching Taiwan, new data from the country's nuclear research institute shows no contamination of nearby waters.
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00:00 Japan has just begun its latest round of wastewater discharge from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
00:05 power plant on the country's east coast.
00:08 This time, around 7,800 tons of water will be released into the Pacific Ocean.
00:13 Japan first began this process in August last year, prompting a backlash from neighboring
00:18 countries including Taiwan.
00:20 A poll by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation in September found that over 60% of people
00:26 were concerned over the issue.
00:28 Many are still worried that the wastewater has reached Taiwan.
00:31 But new data collected by the country's National Atomic Research Institute tells a different
00:36 story.
00:37 "The data from the National Atomic Research Institute shows that there is no significant
00:38 difference between the data from the National Atomic Research Institute and the data from
00:39 the Taiwan Atomic Research Institute.
00:40 So we can see that there is no significant change in the data from the National Atomic
00:41 Research Institute.
00:42 We can't tell if the data has reached Taiwan or not."
00:46 In 2022, the institute, looking to confirm whether waters around Taiwan have been affected
00:51 by Japan's wastewater release, established the country's first tritium analysis laboratory.
00:57 Tritium is a mildly radioactive form of hydrogen.
01:00 Testing has shown very little of it in the water previously discharged by Japan.
01:04 At the lab, researchers study samples of marine life from Taiwan's surrounding waters.
01:10 They slice these into small pieces, place them in a container, then use a freeze dryer
01:14 to extract high-purity tissue to test for tritium.
01:24 The process for detecting tritium in fish is complex because it primarily exists in
01:29 water.
01:30 That means the animal's flesh is a key focus of testing.
01:33 To date, the facility has inspected over 500 samples, including sari, tuna, marlin, and
01:39 shark.
01:41 All tests have shown no signs of contamination.
01:44 The lab says it will continue testing for tritium around Taiwan and work to improve
01:48 its detection capacity and analysis.
01:51 Yixin Chen, Sandy Qi, and Jeremy Olivier for Taiwan Plus.
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