What options does Japan have for releasing radioactive wastewater? Is diluting it and releasing into the Pacific ocean the best option?
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They could keep storing it, or they could release it into the ocean.
The radioactive water in question is water containing tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen (i.e. HTO instead of H2O). Tritium is a bit different from the typical radioisotopes you get from nuclear in that its relatively short lived and doesn’t really bioaccumulate. Tritiated water is chemically the same as regular water so there is no toxicity, especially at dilute concentrations. Tritium naturally exists in water at low levels, so if you find a big enough source of water (the ocean) the resulting dilution should essentially be negligible in terms of radiation. The ocean is already very slightly radioactive in part due to tritium from rainwater and radiation from space. Also since tritium is short lived with a half life of 12 years so it would not stay in the ocean forever. In general ocean disposal of any waste is bad, but tritium is an interesting case where it is probably the best disposal method.
Most of the hype around japans tritium release has been bad journalism and blatant fear mongering. However there is some concern that the water may have other contaminants. If that is the case it might change things but assuming its just tritium then the risk/exposure is fairly negligible.
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