Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency wants to carry out final inspections before the planned start of discharging massive amounts of diluted cooling water from the Fukushima nuclear ruins into the sea. According to Japanese media reports, the investigation into the now-completed facilities for dumping more than 1.3 million tons will begin this Wednesday.
The water, currently stored in some 1,000 huge tanks, is filtered and diluted before being drained through an underwater tunnel – the tunnel extends a kilometer out to sea. Before the start of the nuclear inspection, a sea trial with fresh water will be carried out. Dumping can take decades.
Resistance to discharge into the sea
Local fishermen continue to oppose the discharge into the sea, for fear of reputational damage and loss of turnover. The government will make a final decision on releasing the cooling water after the Nuclear Regulatory Agency completes the inspection of the facilities and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issues its final safety report on the controversial venture, it said.
Too little storage space
On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and massive tsunami caused a supermelt at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. More than twelve years later, the destroyed reactors still have to be cooled with water. Due to infiltrating rainwater and groundwater, the amount of irradiated water is increasing day by day. Until now it has been stored in hundreds of huge tanks, but now space is running out, operator Tepco argues. In addition, the tanks on the site are exposed to the constant danger of new earthquakes.
The government therefore decided that the water should be diverted to the Pacific Ocean. Although it is pre-filtered, the ALPS filtration system cannot filter out the tritium isotope. According to Tepco and the IAEA, there is no danger yet because the water is diluted and small amounts of tritium are harmless to humans. The concentration falls to about 1,500 becquerels per litre, which corresponds to one fortieth of the national limit. If the amount of seawater is not sufficient for dilution or if the concentration of radioactive substances other than tritium shows abnormal levels, an emergency shut-off valve is activated, according to the operator, to stop the release.
Source: Krone
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