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The future of ocean health

Human and environmental health are inextricably linked. Yet ocean ecosystem health is declining because of anthropogenic pollution, overexploitation, and the effects of global climate change. These problems affect billions of people dependent on oceans for their lives, livelihoods, and cultural practices. The importance of ocean health is recognized by scientists, managers, policy-makers, nongovernmental organizations, and…

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Minimizing harm: the concrete option for Fukushima tanks waste

Minimizing Harm: the concrete option for solving the accumulation of radioactively contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant site A paper prepared by the Independent Expert Panel to the Pacific Islands Forum Dr. Arjun Makhijani, Dr. Ferenc (Jacob Rolf) Dalnoki Veress, Dr. Robert Richmond, Dr. Anthony Hooker, Dr. Ken Buesseler12 June 2023 Abstract:…

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More data needed before ocean water release of Fukushima water

A new commentary in the Japan Times by Ken Buesseler, highlights that the full extent of the radioactive isotopes in water in the tanks stored  at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant require more study before the water is dumped into the ocean. The Nuclear Regulatory Authority last month announced its approval for the discharge…

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The Power of the Ocean

Opinion piece just published on The Hill by Ken Buesseler December 23, 2021 Carbon dioxide removal has been described both as humanity’s last, best hope to stave off the looming climate crisis, and as the stuff of dystopian science fiction. As is usually the case, reality falls somewhere in the middle. But if we take…

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Comments on Nov. 2021 Fukushima Radiological Impact Assessment

On November 17, 2021 TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) made public a Radiological Impact Assessment concerning the discharge of water stored at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant site into the ocean. This water, treated with the ALPS method, was found in their assessment to likely have minimal effects on the public and environment and…

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10 Years after Fukushima: I’m still worried

It has been 10 years since the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants in Japan, and worries still abound. Read this opinion piece by Ken Buesseler: 10 Years After Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Meltdown, I’m Still Worried | Opinion Nearly 10 years ago, I boarded a flight from Boston to Tokyo, filled with anxiety.…

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The danger of creating a designer planet

In a guest blog, Ken Buesseler from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, calls for better understanding of the ocean’s biological processes before attempting to geoengineer climate solutions. It is natural in the face of an impending emergency to look for something—anything—that will avert the crisis. So it is understandable that in the absence of a…

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What I Learned from an Ocean Radioactivity Testing Project

Enlisting the public in water sampling after the Fukushima disaster helped build and spread scientific knowledge   Read this Op-Ed by Ken Buesseler published online by Scientific American We live in a radioactive world. That simple fact about our planet kept coming to me in the weeks and months after March 11, 2011, when the…

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