Tokyo Electric Power Co. put the first stage of its groundwater bypass plan into action on April 9 in an effort to prevent contaminated water from accumulating at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. put the first stage of its groundwater bypass plan into action on April 9 in an effort to prevent contaminated water from accumulating at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
TEPCO started pumping underground water from wells dug on the mountain side of the plant into storage tanks, where radiation levels will be checked. The utility plans to start releasing uncontaminated water into the sea in early May, after the Golden Week holiday period ends.
TEPCO said the influx of groundwater into reactor buildings was adding 400 tons of radioactive water daily.
The bypass project calls for intercepting groundwater at 12 wells that are 20 to 30 meters deep before it reaches the plant’s reactor buildings, where it is becoming contaminated.
Independent inspectors will be responsible for checking radiation levels and making sure they do not exceed the safety standards jointly set by the central government and TEPCO.
Those standards dictate that levels of cesium and other radioactive substances in the groundwater must be under 1 becquerel per liter, about the same level as found in nearby rivers.
Until it begins to release the underground water into the ocean, TEPCO will pump 100 tons of water a day from the wells. If all goes as planned, TEPCO will raise the daily amount to 1,000 tons, which the utility estimates will cut the amount of radioactive water that accumulates by 20 to 100 tons per day.
TEPCO and the government needed the approval of local fishermen to proceed with the project. Talks got under way last year, and the Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations finally green-lighted the project late last month.
Local residents were particularly concerned about oversight of TEPCO’s plan.
“Third parties are expected to check the quality of pumped groundwater, but we will also strictly monitor the water quality,” said Hitoshi Watanabe, the chief of Fukushima Prefecture’s nuclear safety management section.
On April 9, the Fukushima prefectural government’s expert committee responsible for monitoring the reactor decommissioning effort at the plant, which Watanabe also sits on, visited the facility to inspect water pumps, storage tanks and related infrastructure.
If the operation proceeds smoothly, the bypass project will be a boon for TEPCO, which has weathered a succession of contaminated water leaks at the plant.
On April 4, water that had accumulated behind barriers protecting storage tanks holding contaminated water spilled over due to heavy rains. TEPCO failed to measure radiation levels of the spilled water.