Discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident into the Northwest Pacific: What is known and what needs to be known.

The Japanese government approved a plan to discharge Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident contaminated water (FDNPPACW) into the Pacific Ocean. It immediately caused a new wave of global concern and anxiety. To assess this matter, this work briefly reviewed the dispersion of FDNPPA-derived radionuclides in the Pacific Ocean in the past and the resulting impacts on marine biota. Combining the drafted plan of discharging FDNPPACW and the public's concerns, 5 points, including (1) the detailed plan of discharging FDNPPACW, (2) the isotopes left in the advanced liquid processing system (ALPS)-treated water and their amounts, (3) the stability of the Kuroshio Extension, (4) the fates and transports of the main radionuclides (left in the ALPS-treated water) in North Pacific seawater, (5) and bioaccumulations and the ecological half-lives of the main radionuclides (left in the ALPS-treated water) in marine biota in the North Pacific, remain to be known to understand the impacts of discharging FDNPPACW into the Pacific Ocean.