By KEITARO FUKUCHI/ Staff Writer
August 26, 2023 at 12:59 JST
Tokyo Electric Power Co. begins discharging treated radioactive water from its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Aug. 24. (Takeshi Iwashita)
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said no abnormalities were detected in seawater samples taken from around its crippled coastal Fukushima nuclear complex after it began discharging treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
The utility on Aug. 25 released the results of monitoring at 10 locations off the coast in relation to the contentious program triggered by the triple meltdown at the facility following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The concentration of tritium in all locations was below the level at which the test used could detect the radioactive substance, TEPCO said.
Before being released, the water was filtered to remove radioactive substances using what is known as the Advanced Liquid Processing System. However, the ALPS is unable to remove tritium.
Treated radioactive water began being released around 1 p.m. on Aug. 24. Between two to three hours later, TEPCO officials collected 0.5 liter of seawater from 10 locations within 3 kilometers of the nuclear facility to be analyzed.
The test can detect about 10 becquerels of tritium per liter, but none of the samples reached that level.
Under the overall TEPCO water-discharge program, tritium concentration levels have been set at under 1,500 becquerels per liter, which is one-fortieth the government’s legal standard.
If the tritium concentration in seawater collected within 3 km of the plant exceeds 700 becquerels, TEPCO has pledged to suspend the discharge and check its equipment to determine the cause of the problem.
TEPCO will continue with the seawater collection at 10 locations for about a month. Each time it does so, it will release the results of its measurement the following day.
Overall plans call for around 1.3 million tons of treated contaminated water to be dumped into the Pacific Ocean eventually. This is because the nuclear complex is fast running out of space to store contaminated water.
The water release program is an essential step in the process of decommissioning the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
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