Polluted water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan: the first conclusive tests for radioactivity

This is encouraging information. According to Tepco, the operator of the plant that conducted the tests, the first analyzes of the level of radioactivity in the water of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant are final. Thus, the radioactivity of the samples taken is in line with the predictions. But even below the ceiling, a value of 1500 becquerels per liter is set.

The Japanese standard for this type of leakage is modeled after the international standard, i.e. 60,000 becquerels per litre. “We will continue to test daily for the next month,” and then regularly as planned, a Tepco spokesman explained. Through these communications efforts, “we hope to allay various concerns,” he stressed.

Get rid of radioactive substances

The water destined for release into the Pacific Ocean comes from rainwater, groundwater and pumping to cool the cores of three reactors at the Fukushima power plant in the country’s northeast that went out of service after the 2011 tsunami. Water was stored on the territory of the plant for a long time and was subjected to purification from radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, which, according to experts, is dangerous only in very high concentrated doses.

That’s why Tepco then proceeds to dilute the tritiated water with seawater before discharging it into the ocean to keep its radioactivity levels below the 1500 Bq/L ceiling. This limit is about seven times lower than the limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for drinking water.

evil china

But there is no guarantee these initial results will be enough to satisfy China, which further tightened trade restrictions against Japan on Thursday, suspending imports of all Japanese seafood.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which oversees the release of Fukushima water into the sea, already noted on Thursday that the concentration of tritium in nuclear plant water samples it took before the spill began in the ocean was “well below the operating limit” of 1,500 Bq. / l. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment is also conducting its own tests, the first results of which will be published on Sunday. The Japan Fisheries Agency, for its part, is taking the fish to make sure they are not infected.

The operation began on Thursday. In total, Japan intends to evacuate more than 1.3 million m3 of tritium water from Fukushima to the Pacific Ocean in extremely phased manner until the early 2050s according to the current schedule.