Kyodo News and Jiji News reported that the Japan Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission has officially approved an ocean discharge plan for contaminated water (the Japanese government’s name, ‘treated water’) from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on the 22nd.
Previously, the Japanese government decided in April of last year to treat contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant with an ALPS and then dilute it with seawater to lower the concentration of tritium (tritium), a radioactive material, below the standard before discharging it. In December of the same year, Tokyo Electric Power, the operator, applied for review of the plan to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission approved the plan submitted by TEPCO in May of this year, and after hearing public opinions, it made a formal approval decision on the same day saying “there is no problem with safety”.
TEPCO plans to begin construction of facilities for discharging contaminated water with the consent of the competent local government upon completion of the approval process by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The plan is to use an undersea tunnel to discharge water offshore about 1km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
The Japanese government and TEPCO are aiming to start releasing the water from next spring, but local fishermen’s groups and others are still strongly opposed to it.
If the contaminated water is purified with ALPS, 62 radioactive substances including cesium can be removed, but tritium is not filtered out.
/yunhap news