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Fukushima nuclear power plant may release tons of treated radioactive wastewater, potentially impacting Alaska’s waters

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Fukushima nuclear power plant may release tons of treated radioactive wastewater, potentially impacting Alaska’s waters


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) -The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may soon be releasing treated and diluted water into the Pacific Ocean, causing controversy based on the plan’s safety.

An announcement from the Prime Minister of Japan on Tuesday gave the Japanese government, Tokyo Electric Power Company and operators of the Fukushima nuclear power plant the green light to be ready for the release of treated radioactive water on Thursday. The State of Alaska is set to monitor the release of wastewater that may be coming into Alaska waters.

The nuclear disaster occurred in 2011 when an earthquake and tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant. Over time they’ve been using seawater to cool the melted reactor and then storing the water in tanks, which the Japanese government and its partners have been working to find a solution for.

The Associated Press is reporting 1.34 million tons of water’s been filtered, collected and is now being stored in about 1,000 tanks. The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company say the water has to be removed, to help the closure of the facility and to prevent future accidental leaks. The release will be done over time and at a slow pace, with plans to release only 31,200 tons of the treated water by the end of March 2024.

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A report in July from the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the impact of the release of the water on the environment and human health would be insignificant.

Japanese government leaders say the water will be made safer than international standards after it’s treated and diluted with seawater. Still, there are some Alaska scientists who are still concerned about the impact.

Former University of Alaska Anchorage marine conservation professor Rick Steiner says he’s concerned because the Japanese government could have used better water filtration systems — but did not because they were more expensive. He believes the decision by the Japanese government is unfortunate and disappointing.

“There’s going to be residual radioactive contaminates in this wastewater release,” Steiner said. “They say it will be below regulatory limits, and it may be, but the problem with that is we keep redefining what is safe.”

“Some of the half-lives of these radionuclides that will be coming out are in the thousands of years,” Steiner added. “They’re going to be dumping this radioactive wastewater for the next 20 to 30 years into our Circum-Pacific waters [and] will come to Alaska and California and Hawaii and even Mexico and further west.”

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Steiner maintains there will be impacts from the release of the water, but he’s just not sure how severe the impacts will be.

“We don’t know everything about how this will impact marine systems, but we know enough to be worried about it and what will we know 100 years from now that we don’t know now?” Steiner said. “So the idea here is to be cautious and precautionary.”

As a professor of 30 years, he’s studied marine conservation and says the understanding of toxicity from radionucleotides in a marine environment is improving annually, but so far scientists know at lower doses those nucleotides can bioaccumulate in marine food webs.

“Organically-bound triduum, which is one of the elements that will be coming out of there, is a risk,” Steiner said. “Carbon 14 which has a half-life, that’s the amount of time it takes for half of it to decompose, is 5,730 years, so it will be circulating in the North Pacific for the next 50,000 years.”

In regards to the Alaska seafood industry, Greg Smith with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute does not have concerns about the release of the water, but is worried about the spreading of misinformation.

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“Everything we’ve seen shows there’s really no concern in terms of contamination of seafood or anything of that sort,” Smith said. “It really shouldn’t be anything anybody is worried about from what we’ve seen.”

Alaska’s News Source reached out to Kelly Rawalt with the Department of Environmental Conservation, who responded in a statement on the potential impact of releasing radioactive water.

“When the initial Fukushima incident occurred, we coordinated monitoring in partnership with EPA and FDA,” Rawalt said in an email. “EPA focused on air and atmospheric work while the FDA specialized in food consumption.”

The DEC also does not have any concerns regarding the release of water, especially with information and results received from an ongoing fish tissue monitoring the organization has conducted since 2014.

“At this time, we do not believe there is a risk of contamination from this release,” Rawalt said. “We will continue to actively monitor Alaskan fish through surveillance sampling.

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“Additionally, our international partners (World Health Organization, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)) monitor this issue and will notify us of detections from water currents moving over to Alaska which will help inform our ongoing monitoring efforts locally.”

The DEC will continue to closely monitor the release of the treated radioactive water and keep Alaskans informed of any changes.



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Alaska

Flight attendant sacked for twerking on the job: ‘What’s wrong with a little twerk before work’

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Flight attendant sacked for twerking on the job: ‘What’s wrong with a little twerk before work’


They deemed the stunt not-safe-for-twerk.

An Alaska Airlines flight attendant who was sacked for twerking on camera has created a GoFundMe to support her while she seeks a new berth.

The crewmember, named Nelle Diala, had filmed the viral booty-shaking TikTok video on the plane while waiting two hours for the captain to arrive, A View From the Wing reported.

“I never thought a single moment would cost me everything,” wrote the ex-crewmember. TikTok / @_jvnelle415

She captioned the clip, which also blew up on Instagram, “ghetto bih till i D-I-E, don’t let the uniform fool you.”

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Diala was reportedly doing a victory dance to celebrate the end of her new hire probationary period.

Unfortunately, her jubilation was short-lived as Alaska Airlines nipped her employment in the bum just six months into her contract.

The fanny-wagging flight attendant feels that she didn’t do anything wrong.

Diala was ripped online over her GoFundMe page. GoFundMe

Diala has since reposted the twerking clip with the new caption: “Can’t even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive. What’s wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before.”

The new footage was hashtagged #discriminationisreal.

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The disgraced stewardess even set up a GoFundMe page to help support the so-called “wrongfully fired” flight attendant until she can land a new flight attendant gig.

“I never thought a single moment would cost me everything,” wrote the ex-crewmember. “Losing my job was devastating.”

“Can’t even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive,” Diala wrote on TikTok while reacting to news of her firing. “What’s wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before.” Getty Images

She claimed that the gig had allowed her to meet new people and see the world, among other perks.

While air hostessing was ostensibly a “dream job,” Diala admitted that she used the income to help fund her “blossoming lingerie and dessert businesses,” which she runs under the Instagram handles @cakezncake (which doesn’t appear to have any content?) and @figure8.lingerie.

As of Wednesday morning, the crowdfunding campaign has raised just $182 of its $12,000 goal.

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Diala was ripped online for twerking on the job as well as her subsequent GoFundMe efforts.

“You don’t respect the uniform, you don’t respect your job then,” declared one critic on the popular aviation-focused Instagram page The Crew Lounge. “Terms and Conditions apply.”

“‘Support for wrongly fired flight attendant??’” mocked another. “Her GoFund title says it all. She still thinks she was wrongly fired. Girl you weren’t wrongly fired. Go apply for a new job and probably stop twerking in your uniform.”

“The fact that you don’t respect your job is one thing but doing it while in uniform and at work speaks volumes,” scoffed a third. “You’re the brand ambassador and it’s not a good look.”

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As Alaska sees a spike in Flu cases — another virus is on the rise in the U.S.

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As Alaska sees a spike in Flu cases — another virus is on the rise in the U.S.


FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska has recently seen a rise in both influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV. Amidst the spike in both illnesses, norovirus has also been on the rise in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it’s highly contagious and hand sanitizers don’t work well against it.

Current data for Alaska shows 449 influenza cases and 262 RSV cases for the week of Jan. 4. Influenza predominantly impacts the Kenai area, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and the Northwest regions of the state. RSV is also seeing significant activity in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Anchorage.

Both are respiratory viruses that are treatable, but norovirus — which behaves like the stomach flu according to the CDC — is seeing a surge at the national level. It “causes acute gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach or intestines,” as stated on the CDC webpage.

This virus is spread through close contact with infected people and surfaces, particularly food.

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“Basically any place that people aggregate in close quarters, they’re going to be especially at risk,” said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent.

Preventing infection is possible but does require diligence. Just using hand sanitizer “does not work well against norovirus,” according to the CDC. Instead, the CDC advises washing your hands with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds. When preparing food or cleaning fabrics — the virus “can survive temperatures as high as 145°F,” as stated by the CDC.

According to Dr. Gupta, its proteins make it difficult to kill, leaving many cleaning methods ineffective. To ensure a given product can kill the virus, he advises checking the label to see if it claims it can kill norovirus. Gupta said you can also make your own “by mixing bleach with water, 3/4 of a cup of bleach per gallon of water.”

For fabrics, it’s best to clean with water temperatures set to hot or steam cleaning at 175°F for five minutes.

As for foods, it’s best to throw out any items that might have norovirus. As a protective measure, it’s best to cook oysters and shellfish to a temperature greater than 145°F.

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Based on Alaska Department of Health data, reported COVID-19 cases are significantly lower than this time last year.

See a spelling or grammatical error? Report it to web@ktuu.com



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Sky Watch Alaska: planets align plus the aurora forecast

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Sky Watch Alaska: planets align plus the aurora forecast


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – This is a great time of year to do some star gazing. If you have clear skies in your part of Alaska, take the time to check out the night — and morning — sky.

After sunset, look toward the southwest. Saturn and Venus are snuggled up together (of course, they are more than 800 million miles apart) in the evening sky. They set at about 9:40 p.m. in Southcentral.

Before 9:40 p.m., you can see four planets with the naked eye — Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars. Jupiter and Mars stick around through the morning. Mars is very close to the moon right now.

The Aurora forecast is fairly weak for the next few weeks. That’s not to say there won’t be the occasional burst but overall, solar activity is expected to be fairly low until the beginning of February.

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If you get great pictures of the planets, the sky, or the aurora, don’t forget to send them to Alaska’s News Source.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com



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