Photo/Illutration Each storage tank on the grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plants holds about 1,000 tons of water treated through the Advanced Liquid Processing System. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant this fiscal year will not make a dent in the massive amount of contaminated water accumulating there.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Aug. 22 said it plans to discharge 31,200 tons of the water into the ocean over four separate occasions during the current fiscal year, which ends in March. It will be the start of a water-release process that could take decades to complete.

As of Aug. 3, rows and rows of storage tanks on the grounds of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant contained a total of about 1.34 million tons of water.

The 31,200 tons of water to be released this fiscal year can fill about 30 storage tanks, and the discharge will not decrease the overall volume at the plant because groundwater and rain continue to be contaminated by radioactive elements in the damaged reactor buildings.

Concerns over the water-release plan are lingering both at home and abroad.

One TEPCO official said the utility is taking a cautious approach for the first year.

TEPCO plans to compile annual water discharge plans so that it can complete the entire process by 2051, its goal for the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant.

Company officials said the first discharge, which could start on Aug. 24, weather permitting, will extend over about 17 days and involve about 7,800 tons of water confirmed to have a concentration of radioactive elements, with the exception of tritium, under legal standards.

The water has been treated by the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), which removes radioactive substances other than tritium.

Tritium will be diluted with seawater before the water is discharged. The utility will also increase the frequency of measurements for tritium concentrations in the area where the treated water enters the ocean.

TEPCO officials said about 5 trillion becquerels of tritium will be contained in the 31,200 tons of water discharged this fiscal year.

That figure is less than one-fourth of the limit of 22 trillion becquerels that TEPCO has set for the volume of water released over a year.

At a meeting on Aug. 22, when the government formally approved the water-release plan, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, “The discharge of the treated water has become an issue that cannot be delayed any further in order to push forward with decommissioning and provide support for the reconstruction of Fukushima.”

So far, there has been no indication of what methods will be used to remove the melted nuclear fuel from within the reactors or when that process will begin.

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