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What happens at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 12 years after the accident?

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What happens at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 12 years after the accident?

Twelve years after the largest nuclear accident in modern history since Chernobyl at the Fukushima nuclear power plant Japan getting ready to throw one a huge amount of treated radioactive wastewater in the sea.

Japanese officials say dumping is inevitable and will begin soon.

Liquid waste management is less of a problem than the difficult task of decommissioning a plant. This process has not progressed far enough, and the removal of molten nuclear fuel has not even begun.

Preparation for drainage

Journalists from the Associated Press visited a nuclear facility where, for safety reasons, thirty huge tanks have been installed for sampling and water analysis. At the final stage of construction there is a water dilution plant after its purification and control. from there, water will be pumped into the ocean from an underwater tunnel.

Tepco, the plant’s operating company, intends to have the facilities ready for disposal by spring, pending approval of a safety clearance from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

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The collected 130 tons of contaminated water were treated and then stored in tanks, which now number 1,000 and occupy most of the site. Source: AP Photo/Hiro Komae.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is working with Japanese authorities to secure safety criteria, will send a mission to the country to prepare a report before the scrapping process begins.

Purified water

A terrible earthquake of magnitude 9 on March 11, 2011 caused a large-scale tsunami that destroyed the power supply and cooling systems of the station. This resulted in the meltdown of reactors 1, 2 and 3 and the release of large amounts of radioactivity. The water used to cool the reactor cores seeped into the reactor cellars and mixed with rainwater and groundwater.

130 tons of contaminated water were collected, treated and then stored in tanks, which now number 1,000 and cover most of the facilities. About 70% of “ALPS-treated water,” as it is called because of the equipment used to filter it, still contains cesium and other radionuclides in excess of the allowable limits.

Tepco claims that radioactivity can be reduced to safe levels and will ensure that poorly filtered water is properly treated within legal limits.

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Men in special suits at the Fukushima facility with equipment to remove radioactive materials from contaminated water. Source: AP Photo/Hiro Komae.

Tritium cannot be removed from water, but it is harmless in small amounts and is released regularly at every nuclear power plant, officials said.

Utilization of radioactive water will be gradual, and the concentration of tritium will not exceed the pre-accident level, Tepco notes.

Why is water released?

Officials at Fukushima Daiichi struggle to deal with contaminated water after 2011 disaster Japanese government and Tepco say tanks should be removed to make way for facilities plant decommissioning – as a storage area for melted fuel residues and other contaminated waste. Tank capacity reached 96% and room for 1.37 million tons is expected to run out in the fall.

Responsible want the whole process to be done with controlled way to avoid the risk of leakage in the event of another major earthquake or tsunami. The water will be piped from the sampling tanks to the shore tank, where it will be diluted with seawater and transported through an underwater tunnel to an open area one kilometer offshore.

Who and why are they concerned?

Local fishing communities say their businesses, and therefore their livelihoods, will suffer another major blow. Neighboring countries such as China and South Korea have also raised the issue of security.

“It would be better if the water was not dumped into the ocean, but it seems inevitable. Personally, these huge tanks annoy me more. The next time another accidental leak occurs, the Fukushima fishery will be put to rest,” says Katsumasa Okawa, owner of a seafood shop in Iwaki, south of the nuclear power plant.

Government provides fund 80 billion yen ($580 million) to support fisheries in Fukushima.

In fact, Tepco, in an attempt to reassure the public, keeps hundreds of flounders and clams in two groups, one in a tank of normal sea water and the other in a tank of diluted purified water. “The experiment is for humans to confirm that treated water, which we consider safe to dump into the sea, will not affect marine life,” notes Tomohiko Mayuzume, Tepco’s public relations manager.

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Tepco keeps hundreds of flounders and clams in clear seawater in an attempt to calm public unrest, but also processes them – Source: AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi

Scientists say the health effects of consuming tritium and other radioisotopes through the food chain may be worse than through water.

Another cause for concern is security crossings. TEPCO claims that water samples are evaluated by both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a similar body in Japan, but experts insist that the checks be carried out by independent bodies.

What is the state of the reactors?

A huge amount of radioactive molten nuclear fuel remains inside the reactors. Robotic probes have provided some information, but the state of the molten debris is virtually unknown.

According to Akira Ono, head of cleanup for the plant’s decommissioning, their task is “unimaginably difficult.”

Earlier this year, a remotely operated submersible successfully collected a tiny sample – roughly 880 tons of molten fuel from three spoon-sized reactors – from inside the Unit 1 reactor.

Source: Associated Press.

Author: newsroom

Source: Kathimerini

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