On Monday, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant announced the successful completion of the initial release of treated radioactive water from the facility into the ocean. They also mentioned plans for facility inspections and cleaning before proceeding with a second release in a few weeks.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant began the process of discharging the treated and diluted wastewater into the Pacific Ocean on August 24. This water had been accumulating since the plant suffered significant damage from a massive earthquake and tsunami back in 2011, and its release marks a crucial milestone in the ongoing decommissioning efforts at the plant.
This discharge operation, expected to continue for decades as part of the decommissioning process, has faced strong opposition from local fishing groups and neighboring countries. China, in particular, responded by banning all imports of Japanese seafood, which had adverse effects on producers and exporters. This led the Japanese government to establish an emergency relief fund in response. Protests against the release have also been fervent in South Korea, with demands for Japan to cease the operation.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during summits held last week with Southeast Asian countries and the Group of 20 nations, emphasized the safety and transparency of the release in an effort to garner international support. He also sought the immediate lifting of China's import ban.
During the 17-day initial release, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), discharged approximately 7,800 tons of treated water from 10 storage tanks. There are roughly 1.34 million tons of radioactive wastewater stored in about 1,000 tanks at the Fukushima plant.
In preparation for the second release of 7,800 tons stored in 10 other tanks, plant workers will conduct rinsing of the pipeline and other equipment, as well as system inspections over the next few weeks, as explained by TEPCO spokesperson Teruaki Kobashi.
Officials have reported that all sampling data from seawater and fish since the commencement of the release have remained well below established safety limits. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been collaborating with Japan to assess the safety of the project and has concluded that if carried out as planned, the release would have negligible impacts on the environment, marine life, and human health. South Korean experts from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety have been visiting an IAEA office set up at the Fukushima plant to monitor and exchange information regarding the release.
TEPCO and the Japanese government maintain that the wastewater is treated to reduce radioactive materials to safe levels and is then diluted with seawater to make it significantly safer than international standards require.
The accumulation of radioactive wastewater has been ongoing since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami damaged three of the plant's reactors. This accumulation persists because cooling water used on the damaged reactors leaks into the reactor basements, where it mixes with groundwater.
TEPCO intends to release 31,200 tons of treated water by March 2024, with the pace of releases expected to increase in the future. Both the government and TEPCO assert that the discharge is inevitable due to the tanks reaching their capacity of 1.37 million tons next year and the need for space at the plant for decommissioning efforts.
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