(ANI): Japan’s industry ministry requested the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday to review the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant so that it can release radioactive water into the sea.
Japan is considering the option of releasing radioactive water into the sea but has yet to make a final decision, the Kyodo News reported.
In a video conference, Japan’s industry minister Hiroshi Kajiyama told IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi that Japan wants the U.N. nuclear watchdog to conduct a scientific and objective review of the method of disposal of the water and openly convey its view to the international community, Japanese officials said.
The water has been treated using an advanced liquid processing system, or ALPS, to remove most contaminants other than relatively less toxic tritium. The water, totaling 1.2 million tons, is stored in tanks on the plant’s premises but space could run out by the fall of 2022, according to Kyodo News.
The Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which suffered core meltdowns due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, is generating massive amounts of radiation-tainted water that have been used to cool the reactors.
Grossi said the IAEA is prepared to fully support Japan, being convinced of the country’s determination to resolve the issue of the treated water and its technological capacity in carrying that out, the officials told reporters after the meeting.
Meanwhile, in addition to the local fishery industry’s concerns about water disposal, neighboring countries such as China and South Korea have also expressed wariness over the discharge of water from the Fukushima plant into the environment. (ANI)
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- April 8, 2015 :Tepco may evaporate tritium-laced Fukushima water instead of ocean release...
Tokyo
Electric Power Co. may evaporate or store underground tritium-laced
water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant as an alternative to
releasing it into the ocean, according to the man in charge of
decommissioning the facility.
The removal of hundreds of
thousands of tons of water containing tritium, a relatively harmless
radioactive isotope left behind in treated water, is one of many issues
facing Tepco as it tries to clean up the wrecked plant.
Tepco
wants to release the tritium laced water to the ocean, a common practice
at normally operating nuclear plants around the world. However, it is
struggling to get approval from local fisherman who are concerned about
the impact on consumer confidence and have little faith in the
company......................Reuters
8/4/15
The Fukushima plant suffered a major meltdown in 2011, following a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent crippling tsunami.
ReplyDeleteIn the years since, the plant has generated a large stash of contaminated cooling water that is being stored in large tanks around the premises. The tanks currently hold some 1.2 million tons of radioactive liquid and the plant is expected to run out of space to store any more by 2022.
The plans to release the water into the ocean have been repeatedly criticized by environmentalist groups, which have warned it may prompt an unprecedented ecological disaster. Greenpeace accused the Japanese government of distorting the situation last October when it described the water as having been “treated.”
The environmental group claimed the water contains “dangerous levels of carbon-14,” that have the “potential to damage human DNA.”
RT