Nearly 55,000 tonnes of water to be released from Fukushima-1 NPP from spring 2024
Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) plans to release 54.6 tonnes of treated water from the damaged Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant into the ocean in fiscal year 2024 (April 1st, 2024 – March 31st, 2025), TASS reports
According to the Kyodo news agency, citing sources, the water will be divided into seven batches. Moreover, TEPCO decided to postpone until October 2024 the start of the extraction of fragments of melted nuclear fuel that are located at the plant. A new technological method will be prepared for this process, Kyodo notes.
In March 2011, due to a tsunami, the power and cooling units of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant failed, leading to the melting of nuclear fuel in three reactors, the destruction of their vessels, explosions and the release of large amounts of radioactive substances. To date, the plant territory and surrounding areas have been practically cleared. But water is constantly being poured into the destroyed reactors to cool fragments of nuclear fuel, which flows out through the gaps with severe radioactive contamination.
Currently, more than 1.34 million tonnes of water have accumulated on the territory of the nuclear power plant. The Japanese government decided to gradually release the purified liquid into the ocean. This operation will take 30-40 years. The corresponding process has been approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but is dissatisfied with some countries, primarily China.
