The 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster was the second-most serious nuclear accident in history, after Chernobyl in 1986. It caused serious damage to the nuclear reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. As a result, massive amounts of radionuclides were released in Fukushima prefecture, posing serious environmental threats of known, and unknown, nature.

When we talk about radiation exposure and its effects on the body, we usually mean ionizing radiation (IR) – the kind that can damage living tissue. The fact is, we are exposed to ionizing radiation every day either from natural sources (coming from radon, minerals, rocks, soil, and cosmic rays) or from man-made sources (from exposure to X rays, CT scans, radiotherapy, nuclear accidents and workplace radiation).

It’s been almost eight years since a major earthquake and the resulting 15-metre tsunami caused a severe nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The fuel meltdown and subsequent explosion released massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment – including iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137 (Cs-137) – heavily contaminating the Pacific Ocean.

Takashi Kawamura, head of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), announced that nearly 777,000 tons of water contaminated with tritium will soon be dumped into the Pacific Ocean.