Since the devastating earthquake of March 2011 took place off the coast of Japan, much attention has been given to what the effects of nuclear waste will be on the ocean and its inhabitants. There has been wild speculation on the short and long term effects of radioactive materials leaking into the ocean, with some scientists proclaiming the immediate danger to be relatively minor. Two of the most prominent pollutants – cesium-137 and strontium-90 — mimic potassium and calcium respectively, elements that are found naturally in the ocean’s salts. Marine animals absorb these nutrients into their muscles and bones, so their bodies will absorb the radioactive materials, mistaking them for nutrients. While some scientists assert that absorption will be minimal thanks to dilution by the vast Pacific Ocean, others remain skeptical.
The problem may not appear as devastating from the outset, but scientists and experts agree that a disaster of this magnitude has not yet been recorded, therefore it is difficult to create the scale upon which it will be measured. And with reports of ongoing leakage, the task of establishing a point of reference becomes indefinite. There are people working around the clock to assess potential damages, only to have to perpetually start anew as the destructive waste keeps spilling. These travails are all too familiar in the face of the massive BP oil spill of only one year ago.
Just as people are now working furiously to curtail the radioactive seepage and assist in the subsequent cleanup, so were people in the Gulf area of the US when the oil spill raged on. There have been massive efforts underway to extract the polluting oil from the waters, soils, and animal habitats of affected areas. But the long term effects are still unknown, and only time will tell exactly how much of an ecological impact has been made. Besides the quashing of numerous commercial ventures, many species are endangered or near extinct due to the toll the pollutants have had not only on existing creatures, but future life. This appalling disaster has killed an overwhelming number of living animals, destroyed nesting eggs and new offspring, effectively diminishing their populations through several generations with one fell stroke.
The possibility for alteration of various forms of life looms large. Pollutants like oil have the ability to render animals sterile or cause them to produce malformed offspring. Radioactive agents can infiltrate developing creatures within the egg by replacing the animal’s atoms with radioactive atoms, the effects of which are not completely understood at this time. Studies are being conducted on plant life and sediments of the ocean to determine how much nuclear waste is being absorbed and retained, but again, without a basis for comparison, there can only be hypotheses on what this means for the future of marine life. One of the main concerns is the retention of radioactive waste by microorganisms, which are a fundamental part of the food chain we all rely on. The probability of these materials entering our food sources worldwide is quite likely, especially as contamination continues.
Now, there are radioactive materials present in many ordinary aspects of our daily lives — radon 222 in the air we breathe, potassium in our breakfast bananas. Radioactivity on the whole is not always a cause for alarm. But there can be no question that the serious nature of this exposure will hold crucial information that will be telling for the future of our planet…and the future of humanity.
Photos via DigitalGlobe-Imagery, MindfulWalker, Kordian
