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Controversial Plan To Release Treated Wastewater from The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Into The Pacific Ocean; Feeding the Astronauts During Long Duration Missions; Dog Ate Groom`s Passport Days Before Couple`s Wedding in Italy. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired August 23, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Good morning. Good afternoon. Good night, wherever you are in this wonderful world. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. And we start
by taking a trip to Japan today, where there are plans to release treated, radioactive wastewater into the ocean in the coming days.
You may remember 12 years ago, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, triggering a tsunami with 30-foot waves with disastrous
consequences. The quake was so strong. It moved Japan`s main island by eight feet, more than 20,000 people died or went missing. The earthquake
and tsunami also cut power to The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, nuclear reactors need water to stay cool and prevent meltdowns. But at the
Fukushima Daiichi Plant, those cooling systems started to fail, reactor course overheated and contaminated water inside the plant with highly
radioactive material. It was Japan`s worst ever nuclear disaster, and it took years for the government to lift evacuation orders near the site.
Japan was also left with tons of radioactive waste water, which it has stored and treated over the past decade. Now, the country says it`s running
out of space for the material and it plans to start releasing treated, diluted wastewater into the Pacific ocean as early as Thursday. There are
third parties involved to monitor the release, including the International Atomic Energy Agency. That`s the United Nation`s nuclear watchdog, so to
speak. But many remain uneasy and fear the contamination has already led some shoppers in parts of Asia to stock up on items like salt and seafood.
Here`s CNN International Correspondent, Anna Coren for more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A toxic blight on Japan`s coastline, rising like a monument to the memory of nuclear disaster and
bottling up its dangerous legacy.
Just over 12 years ago, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Japan`s coast triggered a tsunami. Power was cut at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.
Its cooling systems stopped working and the plant went into meltdown. Water was pumped in to reduce the temperature of the reactor course becoming
radioactive. 1.3 million metric tons has been kept here ever since. It`s been treated to remove and dilute the most dangerous elements. On Thursday,
Japan will begin to release that water into the Pacific Ocean.
FUMIO KISHIDA, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN (through translator): The offshore discharge of ALPS-treated water is an issue that cannot be postponed in
order to advance the decommissioning of the plant and the reconstruction of Fukushima.
COREN: The International Atomic Energy Agency backs Japan`s plan to slowly feed the water into the sea, but not all the dangerous elements can be
removed. A level of the hydrogen isotope called radioactive tritium will remain in the water. Japan and the IAEA says it`s safe in small amounts.
RAFAEL GROSSI, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: Tritium is present there in a very, very low concentration. And it will be diluted even further to a
point that it will be negligible.
COREN: The concentration of tritium released is set to come under the World Health Organization`s regulatory limit, but such assurances have not been
enough to assuage the fears of many in Japan and around the region.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I don`t believe it at all. It`s very dangerous. It contains very radioactive substances. It would become a
serious problem once it`s released into the ocean. We won`t be able to eat fish anymore.
COREN: Protests have been a constant since Japan announced its plan to release the water two years ago. Many worry about the potential for
bioaccumulation of dangerous elements in the ecosystem. While neighboring countries like China have accused Japan of treating the ocean as a dumping
ground. But the disaster of 2011 left Japan with few options.
GROSSI: This would not happen in a normal operation of a nuclear reactor. Here you had all this accumulation and then you had to deal with it. You
had to take a decision.
COREN: Many difficult decisions will need to be made at Fukushima in the coming decades. Part of the reason to release the stored water is to free
up space to safely decommission the plant. The legacy of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster will be a lasting one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Ten second trivia.
With current technology, how long would it take for humans to make a roundtrip to Mars?
Six months, one year, two to three years, at least 15 years?
According to NASA, a crude mission to Mars and back would take two to three years. If you are going to be floating in space for two to three years,
what one food would you want to eat? Have you ever heard of the deep space food challenge? It`s an international competition put on by NASA and the
Canadian Space Agency to find ways to create healthy tasty foods for astronauts on long missions, like roundtrip to Mars. CNN Space and Science
Writer Ashley Strickland takes us to a culinary lab in San Francisco for more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHNAM BAGLEY, CO-FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR, NONFICTION DESIGN: So, one thing to know about food in space is like your taste buds are not
functioning. The same way as they are when you`re on the surface.
The food that we give astronauts is actually quite pungent --
ASHLEY STRICKLAND, CNN SPACE AND SCIENCE WRITER: Mm-hmm.
BAGLEY: -- for them to even feel anything.
STRICKLAND: Right.
BAGLEY: Yeah. So --
STRICKLAND: Good strong flavors, right?
BAGLEY: It`s not going to be subtle.
STRICKLAND (voice-over): Keeping astronauts healthy on long missions in space presents many challenges and food is a big one. Phnam Bagley is the
Co-Founder of Nonfiction, a design firm that is one of several finalists in a NASA and Canadian Space Agency Competition called the Deep Space Food
Challenge.
BAGLEY: So going to Mars, and you take two and a half, three years roundtrip, and astronauts can only eat so many freeze-dried, rehydrated
food before they go crazy.
STRICKLAND: So what are some of these greens that we`re seeing here?
BAGLEY: Yes. So this is an aeroponic garden, so you can see some baby bok choy, you can see some like butter greens.
STRICKLAND (voice-over): Nonfiction calls this a Culinary Lab. It`s a working mockup of a modular unit that can fit into a spacecraft. It grows
food has a coffee maker and can even grill meat.
BAGLEY: As we all know open fires are frowned upon in space.
STRICKLAND: Right, yeah.
BAGLEY: So, let`s avoid that, right?
STRICKLAND: Right.
BAGLEY: So what we decide to do is to use basically microwave to heat up the meat and then to essentially draw the grill pattern on the protein
using laser. There we go.
STRICKLAND: Oh, wow.
BAGLEY: So this little real mark on top, kind of like depending on how wet the -- the top surface was. But makes this piece of chicken look a lot more
appetizing, right? Space barbecue.
STRICKLAND: Space barbecue.
(Voice-over): This part of the culinary lab is what Nonfiction calls munch, it`s a bioreactor that grows algae that can be harvested and eaten by the
astronauts.
BAGLEY: So what we do is that we extract these little discs of microalgae, and then eventually we get a lot of it.
STRICKLAND: Mm-hmm.
BAGLEY: And then this smells terrible and it doesn`t taste great, but it`s very nutritious. So what we do is that to hide the flavor, we actually mix
it with a lot of different types of ingredients here. You are in a Silicon bag and then you mix it up.
STRICKLAND: OK.
BAGLEY: And then it ends up as balls like this. And you can keep these for, you know, two or three days, and they`ll still taste pretty fresh.
STRICKLAND: I feel like I`m going to have a special meal. I`m excited.
BAGLEY: There you go. Astronaut food. It`s the future.
STRICKLAND: Here`s the space food.
BAGLEY: Still better, right?
STRICKLAND: It tastes really good. You got the peanut butter.
BAGLEY: Mm-hmm.
STRICKLAND: And oats. It`s really nice texture.
BAGLEY: Mm-hmm.
STRICKLAND: That`s delicious.
BAGLEY: Great.
STRICKLAND: I could absolutely -- I could eat this all the time.
BAGLEY: Mm-hmm.
STRICKLAND: That`s really good.
(Voice-over): It`s not just that Intrepid space fearing humans need food to stay alive. The preparation taste and appearance of food can have real
psychological benefits for astronauts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: And for today`s story getting a 10 out of 10, a fur baby that created quite the brouhaha. Meet Chicken Cutlet also known as Chickie. This golden
retriever, nearly nixed her owners nuptials a dream wedding in Italy when she chewed up a passport just before the trip. Fortunately, the groom to be
was able to get a last-minute appointment at a passport office with help from a Senator and a Congressman who heard about the couples predicament.
Winner of #yourwordwednesday is Mr. Jose Antonio from Spain for submitting brouhaha, a noun, meaning a loud, chaotic reaction to something. Well done.
Now to our favorite part of the day, you. Today`s special shoutout goes to Bullitt Central High School in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. Go Cougars. Thanks
for subscribing and commenting on our CNN 10 YouTube page with your shout out request. And hey, put your teacher`s names in there too. Don`t forget
to smile everyone. I`ll see you next time. I`m Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.
END
