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Japan to start discharging treated water from Fukushima this year


Japan plans to start discharging more than one million tons of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant

Japan plans to start discharging more than a million tons of treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean by 2023.

Japan plans to start discharging more than a million tons of treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean this year, a top government spokesman said on Friday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters the plan had been approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but the government would wait for “a comprehensive report” from its watchdog. United Nations prior to publication.

The cooling system at the plant was overwhelmed when a massive undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami in 2011, causing the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

The decommissioning work is underway and is expected to take about four decades.

The region produced an average of 100 cubic meters (3,500 cubic feet) of contaminated water per day between April and November last year—a combination of groundwater, seawater and stormwater seeping into the area. area and water is used for cooling.

The water is filtered to remove various radionuclides and transferred to a storage tank, with more than 1.3 million cubic meters in place already and the space is running out.

“We expect the release date to be sometime this spring or summer,” once the release facilities are completed and tested and the IAEA’s comprehensive report is released, Mr. speak.

“The government will generally make every effort to ensure safety and bring precautions against bad rumors.”

These comments address the lingering concerns of neighboring countries and local fishing communities about the plan to release fish.

Fishermen in the area fear reputational damage from the release, after years of trying to re-establish confidence in their product through rigorous testing.

Plant operator TEPCO says treated water meets National standards for radionuclides, with the exception of one element, tritium, which experts say is only harmful to humans in large doses.

It has a dilution plan water to reduce tritium levels and release it offshore over several decades through a kilometer (0.6 mile) underwater pipeline.

The IAEA said the release met international standards and “would not harm the environment”.

Neighbors in the region including China and South Korea, and groups like Greenpeace, have criticized the plan.

The March 2011 disaster in northeastern Japan left about 18,500 people dead or missing, most of which were caused by the tsunami.

Tens of thousands of residents around the Fukushima plant have been ordered to evacuate their homes, or have chosen to do so.

About 12% of the area of ​​the Fukushima area was once declared unsafe, but now the no-go zones account for about 2%, although the population in many towns is still much lower than in the past.

© 2023 AFP

quote: Japan to start discharging treated water from Fukushima this year (2023, Jan 13) get Jan 13, 2023 from https://techxplore.com/news/2023-01-japan-fukushima- year.html

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