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Regulators approve TEPCO’s radioactive water release plan

TEPCO plans to begin construction work after obtaining approval from local governments and complete it by spring 2023. (AFP)
TEPCO plans to begin construction work after obtaining approval from local governments and complete it by spring 2023. (AFP)
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22 Jul 2022 02:07:20 GMT9
22 Jul 2022 02:07:20 GMT9

TOKYO: Japanese regulators on Friday approved Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s  plan to release treated radioactive water into the ocean from its disaster-crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture.

The plan includes building an undersea tunnel and others necessary to release the water containing radioactive tritium from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant that suffered a triple meltdown following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

TEPCO plans to begin construction work after obtaining approval from local governments and complete it by spring 2023.

The company has the challenge of obtaining understating from local fishermen who are concerned over reputational damage to marine products over the water release plan.

In December last year, TEPCO asked the Nuclear Regulation Authority to approve the plan.

The company plans to release the water at a point 1 kilometer off the coast via the undersea tunnel after diluting it with seawater to lower the tritium concentration to less than one-40th of the level permitted under Japanese safety standards.

In May, the NRA said that the water release will reduce future risks related to the plant. It also approved TEPCO’s procedures to examine radiation levels of the treated water before the release and halt the release when necessary.

The NRA received 1,233 opinions about the plan during a monthlong comment period. But none of them required a major change to TEPCO’s plan.

The nuclear plant produced 130 tons of radioactive contaminated water per day in fiscal 2021, which ended in March. Tanks to store treated water are estimated to become full in summer or autumn next year, according to TEPCO.

JIJI Press

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