IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Fishermen here have given the go-ahead for Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s bypass plan to release uncontaminated groundwater into the sea by diverting it before it reaches the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Fishermen here have given the go-ahead for Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s bypass plan to release uncontaminated groundwater into the sea by diverting it before it reaches the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations confirmed its approval when the heads of its member associations met in the city of Iwaki on March 25.
The groundwater bypass plan, designed by both the plant operator, TEPCO, and the government, is intended to slow the rate at which radioactive water is accumulating in the plant's holding tanks.
The influx of groundwater into contaminated reactor and turbine buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 plant is adding 400 tons a day of radioactive water in the plant site. Storage tanks located on the facility already hold more than 400,000 tons.
TEPCO and the government originally began seeking approval for the plan by the fishermen last year. But those talks were suspended following revelations of more radioactive water leaks and other questionable developments at the damaged nuclear plant.
The government and TEPCO in February resumed their efforts to get the fishermen to green-light the project presenting new, stricter safety standards. Under their new plan, the government and TEPCO said the radioactive cesium levels in the groundwater that will be released will not exceed 1 becquerel per liter, about the same level that is found in nearby rivers.
Fukushima’s fishermen have not engaged in commercial fishing operations since the nuclear disaster began to unfurl in March 2011, but they have participated in trial operations since June 2012 to catch and market some fish species that have shown very low radiation levels.
Some fishermen have expressed concern that implementation of the bypass plan could negatively impact the trial fishing operations by raising fears in customers of radioactive contamination.
A majority of fishermen, however, are more fearful that radioactive water from the plant could be released into the sea if the accumulating volume continues to grow.
Members of the fisheries federation, therefore, agreed to approve the bypass plan with a caveat that an independent third-party body should oversee the process.