Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it “completed” the onerous task of processing about 620,000 tons of highly radioactive water stored at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on May 27.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it “completed” the onerous task of processing about 620,000 tons of highly radioactive water stored at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on May 27.
The work ended at 9:15 a.m., and it greatly reduces the risk of large amounts of radioactive substances leaking into the environment surrounding the crippled plant, TEPCO officials said.
The water, kept in storage tanks at the plant, had contained tens of millions to hundreds of millions of becquerels of radioactive substances per liter.
However, TEPCO has yet to decide how to handle the rising volume of processed water that still contains low levels of radioactive substances. Currently, about 440,000 tons of such water, containing several hundreds of becquerels of radioactive substances per liter, are on the plant site.
The site also has about 180,000 tons of contaminated water with some radioactive substances, such as strontium, removed. This water needs further processing to eliminate other radioactive substances.
The triple meltdown at the plant following the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami has required tons of water to cool the nuclear fuel and keep the situation under control. That in turn led to a huge volume of highly contaminated water held in row upon row of storage tanks at the plant.
Another problem for TEPCO has been the 300 tons a day of groundwater flowing into the nuclear reactor buildings and becoming contaminated with radioactive substances. The utility is planning a “frozen soil wall” to divert the groundwater into the ocean before it reaches the buildings.