As Japan prepared in July to release treated wastewater from its Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, social media users have shared an image alongside a false claim that it shows a forecast by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of how radioactive substances will spread in the Pacific Ocean. A spokesperson for the NOAA told AFP the image in fact shows their forecast of maximum wave heights of a 2011 tsunami triggered by a massive undersea earthquake near Japan.

A map with NOAA's logo was posted on Facebook on July 5, 2023 with a caption in Korean that reads: "The destruction of the Earth, geocide. The photo shows the spread path of radioactive materials from the Fukushima nuclear power plant estimated by the NOAA."

Screengrab of the misleading post.

The post was shared online after Japan secured approval from the nuclear watchdog IAEA for its plan to release more than one million tonnes of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

The water was collected on-site over 12 years after the plant was swamped by a tsunami that overwhelmed the cooling systems at the plant.

Japan began to discharge the water on August 24 despite opposition from neighbouring countries, including South Korea and China.

The claim was also shared on Facebook here, here and here; and in Chinese here, here, here, here and here.

But the claim is false. The image in fact shows the NOAA's estimation of the amplitude of tsunami waves triggered by the...

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