Newsable: Pumping once-radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean

Newsable is brought to you by BNZ.

On today’s episode of Newsable: consternation over Japan’s plans to release treated radioactive water into the Pacific; an independent report lays down the law over dawn raids; the Australian charity pairing feral donkeys with jobs; and the best of the worst joke format.

Hello folks, happy Tuesday. I learned something about Imogen today, shall I tell you? I SHALL!

As you might know she’s having a bit of back trouble at the moment which stems from going a bit too hard in the gym (#Athlete).

Now, Imogen is addressing this pain through the magic of ‘Frank’.

I, in my naivety, thought Frank was a masseuse or a physio or, I dunno, a druid, a warlock, something like that?

BUT NO. Frank. Is a hot water bottle.

I thought to myself, what kind of psycho names a hot water bottle? And related, if you’re naming a bloody hot water bottle, what kind of psycho names it Frank?

But then I realised that I named my drum kit Percival, and those same accusations could well be levelled at me. So I decided to let sleeping dogs lie on that one.

On which note – please tell me the names you’ve given to inanimate objects in your life. It would bring me joy. Newsable@stuff.co.nz or emile.donovan@stuff.co.nz.

Anyway! After that Joycean preamble, let’s talk about today’s humdinger of a show: we kick off by chatting about radioactive water, a super interesting story. Japan has over a million litres of the stuff, which has been collected in and around the munted Fukushima Nuclear Plant since it was destroyed by a tsunami in 2011. That’s a lot of water, and Japan wants to get rid of it – so it plans to pump the water into the Pacific Ocean.

Now, the water HAS been treated, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency says as much (in fact its head is on an assurance tour in NZ as we speak). But nonetheless, many countries in the Asia-Pacific region have serious misgivings. So is this really safe? We check in with nuclear physicist David Krofchek for his two cents.

After that, just two years ago then-PM Jacinda Ardern apologised for historical dawn raids that affected hundreds of people, predominantly Pacific Islanders – but that apology didn’t spell an end to the practice. Now, as Imogen explains, an independent review has recommended we actually outlaw dawn raids, apart from in very specific situations.

Then we’re heading over the ditch for an absolutely magical yarn about an Australian charity which looks for jobs for feral donkeys. Seriously. They’re a legit problem over there, but as it turns out they make fantastic guardians, and can also be used as therapy animals.

And finally I take Imo through some of the best knock-knock jokes I solicited from you last week. Spoiler alert: she is not amused.

That’s your lot today, have a good one, be safe, we’ll catch you tomorrow.

Emile

Newsable is Stuff’s daily news podcast, wrapping up what’s worth talking about in a short package every weekday morning. You can find new episodes and more detail on our stories here or in our newsletter. Make sure to like and follow us wherever you get your podcasts and across Instagram and TikTok.