Aug. 25 (UPI) — The Japanese utility that keeps the nuclear fuel inside the damaged Fukushima plant cool reports its release of treated wastewater has entered its third year.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced Monday that it has completed its third discharge of Advanced Liquid Processing System treated water into the sea on Monday.
“Monitoring results have confirmed that the water was discharged safely as planned,” TEPCO posted to X. “Going forward, we will remain vigilant to ensure the safe and stable discharge of ALPS-treated water.”
TEPCO, along with Fukushima Prefecture and Japan’s Ministry of the Environment and Fisheries Agency, reported that the levels of tritium found in the seawater are “below the lower limit of detection” and are under the World Health Organization’s 10,000-becquerel limit for drinking water.
According to TEPCO, the ALPS is designed to remove 62 types of radioactive materials from the affected sea and dilute the water to lower the tritium levels. The water is considered “treated” to distinguish it from water yet to be decontaminated.
Around 70 tons of radioactive wastewater is produced daily at the plant, which cools the nuclear fuel that melted inside the reactor buildings at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. As of the first week of August, around 102,000 tons of treated water have been released.
About 80 tons of new contaminated water is generated at the plant, and at the current rate of releases, it’s expected that it will take approximately 40 years to completely drain all the tanks.
The Fukushima nuclear accident occurred in 2011 due to an earthquake and tsunami.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes tritium in part as a “byproduct in nuclear reactors,” and TEPCO states on its website that “the radiation emitted by tritium is extremely weak, and can be blocked with a single sheet of paper.”
“It also does not accumulate in the body tissues of humans,” TEPCO further notes. “Water containing tritium has been regularly released from nuclear facilities around the world for many years. It has been consistently determined that the releases pose no danger to the environment or human health.”