Fukushima: the second stage of dumping contaminated water into the sea has begun

Despite China’s anger, a second phase of releasing treated water into the sea from Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant began Thursday morning, its operator Tepco said. Japan on August 24 began evacuating water into the Pacific Ocean, which was used to cool the cores of three power plant reactors in the northeast of the country that melted after the 2011 tsunami.

Also coming from groundwater and rainwater, this water was long stored in huge tanks on the power plant site and purified of radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, which is dangerous only at very high temperatures. concentrated doses according to experts.

That’s why Tepco then heavily dilutes the tritiated water with seawater before releasing it into the ocean to ensure its radioactivity levels do not exceed the target ceiling of 1,500 Bq/L. This limit is 40 times lower than the Japanese standard for this type of discharge to sea, and almost seven times lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) ceiling for drinking water (10,000 Bq/L).

Operations until 2050

The release into the sea was confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). But the launch of the process sparked a diplomatic crisis between Japan and China, which has suspended all imports of Japanese seafood since late August. Russia, whose relations with Japan are also strained by sanctions imposed by Tokyo on Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, is reportedly considering doing the same.

VIDEO. Why the Japanese government will release Fukushima waters into the Pacific Ocean

“As with the first release, we will continue to monitor tritium levels. We will continue to inform the public in a clear and understandable manner, based on scientific evidence,” a Tepco spokesman told the press last week.

In total, about 7800 m3 of tritiated water was released during the first stage, which lasted 17 days. Tepco has planned three more similar operations before the end of March 2024. In total, Japan plans to release more than 1.3 million m3 of tritiated water from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean, the equivalent of 540 Olympic swimming pools, but very gradually. , until the early 2050s according to the current calendar.