164: Japan is about to release 1.3 million tons of Fukushima wastewater. Should we be concerned?

There’s enough contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, but they’re running out of space. This week, environment journalist Mara Budgen joins us to discuss Japan’s plan to get rid of the wastewater — a plan that has made some of our neighbors very unhappy.

This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.

Hosted by Shaun McKenna and produced by Dave Cortez.

On this episode:

Shaun McKenna: Articles | Twitter | Instagram

Mara Budgen: Articles | Twitter | Instagram | Website

Read/Listen more: 

Fukushima water release nears after OK from nuclear watchdog (Eric Johnson, The Japan Times)

Twelve years after 3/11, dispute grows over Fukushima’s radioactive soil (Tomoko Otake, The Japan Times)

Moving to Fukushima? You’ll have to kick out the boars first (Alex Martin, Deep Dive from The Japan Times)

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Photo: The tanks containing water from the disabled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are almost full. | REUTERS