IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it will finish processing highly radioactive water stored in tanks at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant by the end of the month.
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it will finish processing highly radioactive water stored in tanks at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant by the end of the month.
The plant operator said the volume of water containing tens of millions to hundreds of millions of becquerels of radioactive substances per liter had been reduced to 8,872 tons by May 21.
At one point, more than 360,000 tons of highly contaminated water was stored in tanks on the premises of the crippled facility.
In March, TEPCO said it would not finish processing all the highly radioactive water by the end of May. But it now says it will be able to complete treatment of 20,000 tons of salty radioactive water generated when reactor cores were cooled with seawater, a factor TEPCO cited as the key reason for the delay in processing work.
Finishing the work will lower the risk of radioactive substances on the plant site from leaking. But the treated water still contains some radioactive materials, and TEPCO has yet to decide how to handle the processed water.