How can releasing nuclear waste from the Fukushima power plant into the ocean be harmful?

Anurag C - You can put uranium in my basement. Uranium is not very radioactive and emits alpha radiation with is easily shielded by no more than a piece of paper. Heck, while you are at it you might as well put capsules of cesium-132 or strontium-90 in my basement too. I would love to put it in a big tank of water in my basement. Then I would have a never-ending supply of hot water to heat my home for the next 300 years. I don't know why everyone freaks out about radiation. It is kind of like fire, as long as you are careful and respect it, it can be a useful tool.

They have already released all the low level contaminated water they're going to. The highly contaminated water is being processed. Note that most of the radiation leaked (about 80%) is from iodine-131 which has a half life of about eight days so it quickly deteriorates into non-radioactive substances. The water around Fukushima Daiichi is continually monitored and by 30 km radioactivity is barely detected. The level of radioactivity detected have been reducing over time as well.

If anything, the situation shows how safe nuclear power is. Consider that forty year old plants were hit with an earthquake five times the strength they were designed for and yet they still shut down safely. The generators came on like they were supposed to when grid power was cut. Then the tsunami hit and the generators were wiped out. However, the battery backup still worked for the designed eight hours. The problem happened when no new generators could be put in. Even so the problems have been minimal--media scare mongering for ratings not withstanding.

Here is an informative article describing the situation:

http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-si...

And here is where you find current, factual status information:

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate0...

Historical status:

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2011/fukushima...

And a slide presentation that describes the effects:

http://www.slideshare.net/iaea/radiological-monito...

And here is a chart that helps make sense of the numbers:

http://www.xkcd.com/radiation/

Either way, I don't think we should be throwing anything in the ocean. We created the waste so we need to dispose of it in an appropriate manner. This can affect many things; the pollution can affect the animals in the ocean and can also affect the water. Affecting the water in the ocean can have an effect on the weather, where do you think our rain water comes from?

what happens if i put uranium active in ur house same to see

It would cause many species of animals to become endangered/extinct.

None of it is any good.

oh