The water is being treated using an advanced liquid processing system (ALPS), which removes most radioactive materials including strontium and cesium but leaves behind tritium, an isotope of hydrogen said to pose little health risk in low concentrations.
In the flyers and video, the character explains that ocean release of water containing tritium is standard practice at nuclear power plants around the world.
In an animation video on the website of Japan’s Reconstruction Agency, the tritium mascots are seen swimming in the ocean near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. | VIA KYODO
“It seems the government’s desire to release the water into the sea takes priority over everything. We fishermen can’t understand it,” said Katsuo Watanabe, an 82-year-old fisherman from Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.