The Japanese government has confirmed that the release of contaminated water into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will likely begin in the spring or summer at the latest. The decision was taken today during a meeting of the Council of Ministers Tokyoand the Chief of Staff, Hirokazu Matsuno, said the executive will do its best to ensure the safety of the spill operation and prevent damage to the ecosystem. Matsuno also urged the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), to ensure that all relevant activities are running smoothly.
During April-November last year, the site produced an average of 100 cubic meters of contaminated water per day – a combination of groundwater, seawater and rainwater that seeps into the area, and water used for cooling. The water is filtered to remove various radionuclides and transferred to storage tanks, with over 1.3 million cubic meters already on site and running low on space.
The plant in the Tohoku prefecture, in the north-east of the country – currently under decommissioning – suffered a triple core meltdown in March 2011 due to the magnitude 9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. In April 2021, the Tokyo government announced plans with Tepco to release the treated water into the open sea, after diluting it to reduce the concentration of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, below the percentage allowed by the international regulations.
Although the operation received the positive opinion of the IAEA in February 2020 – which had admitted that the disposal is in line with international standards of the nuclear industry – the project has among its major opponents the fishing industry, in addition to residents of the entire prefecture of Fukushima, heavily damaged by the hostility of neighboring countries and the ban on the importation of local agricultural products.
The entire decommissioning process of the plant, which includes the removal of debris produced by the spent fuel, could last until 2051 according to government estimates.