Fukushima plant ends 7th round of treated water release into sea
Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced that it has completed the third round of
treated radioactive water discharge from the stricken Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant in this fiscal year. About 7,800 tons of filtered water
were released from storage tanks into the Pacific Ocean after being diluted
by a large volume of seawater, the company said on July 16. This was the
seventh batch of treated water dumped into the sea since TEPCO began the
discharge program in August last year. The utility plans four more rounds
of discharge before the current fiscal year ends in March.
Asahi Shimbun 17th July 2024
Japan starts 7th discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater despite opposition
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-06-28/news-1uNrsTbwBm8/p.html
Japan on Friday started the seventh round of release of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.
Despite opposition from local fishermen, and residents as well as backlash from the international community, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant’s operator, started releasing the radioactive wastewater in the morning, the third round in fiscal 2024.
Just like the previous rounds, about 7,800 tonnes of wastewater will be discharged from about a kilometer off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture via an underwater tunnel until July 16.
According to TEPCO, the company will begin dismantling empty storage tanks after the wastewater has been discharged around January next year.
There are approximately 1,000 storage tanks at the Fukushima plant because of its continued production of wastewater. TEPCO plans to dismantle 21 of these tanks over about one year starting next January, which will free up 2,400 square meters of space.
There is still uncertainty when it comes to the decommissioning schedule of the Fukushima plant and the measures to deal with contaminated wastewater, Masahide Kimura, a member of a Japanese anti-nuclear campaign group, told Xinhua.
The collapse of houses, the destruction of roads and the ground uplift along the coast caused by the recent Noto Peninsula Earthquake have warned us that nuclear power plants should not be operated in Japan, an archipelago prone to earthquakes, Kimura said.
Hit by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and an ensuing tsunami on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima nuclear plant suffered core meltdowns that released radiation, resulting in a level-7 nuclear accident, the highest on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.
The plant has been generating a massive amount of water tainted with radioactive substances from cooling down the nuclear fuel in the reactor buildings. The contaminated water is now being stored in tanks at the nuclear plant.
Despite furious opposition both at home and abroad, the ocean discharge of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water began in August 2023.
Specialised device tried to recover melted fuel at Fukushima plant
By FUMI YADA/ Staff Writer, June 19, 2024 [includes VIDEO] , Asahi Shimbun
KOBE–A specialized device resembling a fishing rod will be used to “hook” tiny bits of melted nuclear fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the work is expected to begin no later than October and will be done on a trial basis.
The equipment was shown to reporters on May 28.
The removal of melted fuel is regarded as the trickiest phase of decommissioning work, because the wrecked facility is still plagued by extremely high levels of radiation.
TEPCO plans to remove a few grams of melted nuclear fuel from the No. 2 reactor because radiation levels there are relatively low.
An extendable pipe to be used for the delicate maneuver was demonstrated at a facility in Kobe operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
Designed like a fishing pole, the 22-meter-long device was inserted into a model of the pedestal to support the reactor’s pressure vessel.
The aim was to ascertain whether pebbles representing fuel debris could be grasped with the claw-like arm……………………more https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15288064
China urges long-term supervision over Japan’s radioactive water discharge
08-Jun-2024. CGTN https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-06-08/China-urges-strict-supervision-over-Japan-radioactive-water-discharge-1ugaDo6lH8I/p.html
A Chinese envoy on Friday called for strict, independent and effective long-term international supervision over Japan’s discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean.
Japan has recently carried out its sixth round of the Fukushima wastewater release. The Chinese envoy stated that the discharge continues to raise deep concerns among the international community, especially among Japan’s neighboring countries.
Li Song, China’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expressed doubts about the long-term reliability of Japan’s wastewater purification equipment, the effectiveness of the current monitoring arrangements, the weak supervision from the Japanese government, and the chaotic management of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the Fukushima plant’s operator, during a meeting of the agency’s board of governors.
Li stressed the importance and urgency of establishing a long-term international supervision mechanism for nuclear-contaminated wastewater discharge as an addition to the regulation of the Japanese government and monitoring by Japanese nuclear power regulators, rather than replacing them.
He emphasized that only through such an arrangement can Japan dispel the concerns and panic of the people of China and other stakeholder countries. Such an arrangement is also conducive to further strengthening the authority and function of the IAEA in the field of international nuclear security and serves the fundamental interests of Japan and the Japanese people, Li added.
The Chinese envoy also stated that China and Japan have agreed to find an appropriate solution to the issue of the Fukushima wastewater discharge through consultation and negotiation. China hopes that Japan will show sincerity, seriously address the legitimate concerns from home and abroad, earnestly fulfill its responsibilities and obligations, and join hands with China, the IAEA, and the international community to work out more effective supervision measures to ensure that the Fukushima wastewater release will not cause long-term harm to the marine environment and humankind.
‘Offshore wind farms could have averted Fukushima disaster’
A global review led by the University of Surrey reveals that offshore wind farms could have prevented the Fukushima disaster and are now a cheaper energy alternative than nuclear power
Dimitris Mavrokefalidis, 05/30/2024 , https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/05/30/offshore-wind-farms-could-have-averted-fukushima-disaster/
A review conducted by researchers at the University of Surrey has concluded that offshore wind farms could have averted the Fukushima nuclear disaster by maintaining the cooling systems and preventing a meltdown.
The study highlights that wind farms are less vulnerable to earthquakes than nuclear power plants.
Suby Bhattacharya, Professor of Geomechanics at the University of Surrey, emphasised that wind power provides abundant clean energy and can enhance the safety and reliability of other facilities.
The review indicates that wind energy is now more cost-effective due to reduced construction costs and improved methods to minimise environmental impact.
The report finds that new wind farms can produce energy at a significantly lower cost than new nuclear power stations.
In the UK, the lifetime cost of generating wind power has dropped from £160/MWh to £44/MWh, covering all expenses from planning to decommissioning.
Professor Bhattacharya said: “What makes wind so attractive is that the fuel is free, and the cost of building turbines is falling. There is enough of it blowing around the world to power the planet 18 times over.
“Our report shows the industry is ironing out practical challenges and making this green power sustainable, too.”
2
Fukushima nuclear debris removal to begin as early as August
Crucial work at devastated plant has been delayed for three years
AYAKA OTAKA, Nikkei staff writer, May 31, 2024,
TOKYO — Trial removal of melted fuel rods at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will begin as early as August, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings announced on Thursday, a critical step in a decommissioning process that is expected to take decades.
Removal of the fuel rods, which is now three years behind schedule, had been slated to start by October, but TEPCO now says it will happen between August and October. Necessary equipment will be set up at the plant in northeastern Japan as early as July.
“We will continue to proceed with the work carefully, with safety as our top priority, so as not to impact the surrounding environment,” said Akira Ono, the TEPCO official in charge of decommissioning efforts.
The radioactive debris consists of fuel and other materials that melted, then cooled and solidified, after the plant lost power in the devastating March 2011 tsunami. An estimated 880 tonnes of debris are in reactor units 1 to 3.
As the melted fuel is highly radioactive, people cannot come near it, and removal must be done in small amounts to prevent leakage during the process.
A device similar to a fishing rod will be used to carry out the work. On Tuesday, a video was released showing the device being tested at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Kobe, using a full-scale model of a nuclear reactor.
According to TEPCO, a 3- to 4-meter cable with a mechanical claw will be hung from the device down towards the bottom of the reactor. Less than 3 grams can be collected at a time.
Shortening shifts to reducing workers’ exposure to radiation will be necessary. The trial removal is expected to take about two weeks.
Removal was originally to be carried out in 2021. The plan was to use a robot arm to remove the debris, but development of the arm was delayed. A large amount of non-fuel debris blocking access also caused delays………………………………
The government has said that it will take 30 years to 40 years from the 2011 incident to decommission the plant.
The reactor building cannot be dismantled unless the debris is removed. Cooling water, as well as rainwater, that comes in contact with the debris becomes contaminated.
TEPCO began releasing treated wastewater in August 2023, but as long as the debris remains, the cycle of water being contaminated and requiring treatment and release will continue.
Some critics say the government’s decommissioning plan is unrealistic. The process could take more than 100 years, say some scientists in the Atomic Energy Society of Japan. After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former Soviet Union, decommissioning was abandoned, and a shelter structure was built to completely cover the area with radioactive waste.
There is also the issue of how to dispose of soil and rubble contaminated by scattered radioactive materials. The government has promised to transport this waste outside of Fukushima prefecture by 2045, but a destination has not been decided. https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Fukushima-nuclear-debris-removal-to-begin-as-early-as-August
A robot will soon try to remove melted nuclear fuel from destroyed Fukushima reactor
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 29, 2024, https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15284702
The operator of Japan’s destroyed Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant demonstrated Tuesday how a remote-controlled robot would retrieve tiny bits of melted fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors later this year for the first time since the 2011 meltdown.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to deploy a “telesco-style” extendable pipe robot into Fukushima No. 2 reactor to test the removal of debris from its primary containment vessel by October.
That work is more than two years behind schedule. The removal of melted fuel was supposed to begin in late 2021 but has been plagued with delays, underscoring the difficulty of recovering from the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011.
During the demonstration at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Kobe, western Japan, where the robot has been developed, a device equipped with tongs slowly descended from the telescopic pipe to a heap of gravel and picked up a granule.
TEPCO plans to remove less than 3 grams (0.1 ounce) of debris in the test at the Fukushima plant.
“We believe the upcoming test removal of fuel debris from Unit 2 is an extremely important step to steadily carry out future decommissioning work,” said Yusuke Nakagawa, a TEPCO group manager for the fuel debris retrieval program. “It is important to proceed with the test removal safely and steadily.”
About 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the three damaged reactors. Critics say the 30- to 40-year cleanup target set by the government and TEPCO for Fukushima Daiichi is overly optimistic. The damage in each reactor is different, and plans must accommodate their conditions.
Better understanding the melted fuel debris from inside the reactors is key to their decommissioning. TEPCO deployed four mini drones into the No. 1 reactor’s primary containment vessel earlier this year to capture images from the areas where robots had not reached.
Protest continues against Japan’s further discharge of nuke-contaminated water
By Jiang Xueqing in Tokyo https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202405/26/WS66531eb9a31082fc043c9296.html
2024-05-26
Japanese people continued to strongly oppose the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean during the latest round of radioactive water release.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima plant, started the sixth round of releasing nuclear-contaminated water into the sea on May 17. The company said it plans to discharge approximately 7,800 metric tons of radioactive water through June 4.
During a rally in front of the Prime Minister of Japan’s office in Tokyo on Friday, Kem Komdo, a 61-year-old Tokyo resident, said the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean has no benefits at all, and the main risk is marine pollution.
Although Japanese media is promoting that the water treated through the Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, only contains tritium, Komdo said that is not true. He emphasized that the radioactive water contains various hidden contaminants that have come into contact with fuel debris, so the actual situation must be made clear.
“The (Japanese) government and TEPCO always tell the media to call it ‘ALPS-treated water’, not nuclear-contaminated water, saying that calling it nuclear-contaminated water causes harmful rumors. But that statement is clearly wrong because this is indeed contaminated water,” Komdo said. “By forcing us to call it ‘ALPS-treated water,’ TEPCO and the government are trying to evade responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear accident.”
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered a triple meltdown following a major earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Komdo said the Japanese government should change its policy to avoid discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean and immediately switch to land storage as there is still space available.
“Otherwise, the government won’t gain the trust of China and other Pacific island countries, and it will also affect other diplomatic relations,” he said.
Japan starts 6th discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater
CGTN, 17-May-2024
Japan on Friday started the sixth round of release of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.
Despite opposition among local fishermen, residents as well as backlash from the international community, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant’s operator, started releasing the radioactive wastewater in the morning, the second round in fiscal 2024.
The same as the previous rounds, about 7,800 tonnes of wastewater are being discharged from about a kilometer off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture via an underwater tunnel until June 4.
According to the TEPCO, the concentrations of all radioactive substances other than tritium in the water stored in the tank scheduled for release were below the national release standards, while the concentration of tritium that cannot be removed will be diluted with seawater.
The Chinese Embassy in Japan expressed firm opposition to this unilateral move of ocean discharge. While safety and reliability have yet to be ensured, Japan’s dumping of nuclear-contaminated water has repeatedly raised risks to neighboring countries and marine ecology, a spokesperson for the embassy said.
The spokesperson called on the Japanese side to attach great importance to the concerns at home and abroad and to fully cooperate in setting up an independent international monitoring arrangement that remains effective in the long haul and has the substantive participation of stakeholders.
………………………….. In fiscal 2024, the TEPCO plans to discharge a total of 54,600 tonnes of contaminated water in seven rounds, which contains approximately 14 trillion becquerels of tritium. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-05-17/news-1tFIzr3u9Da/p.html
“Bouncing-back” and other resilience neologisms championed by the state are inherently at odds with the irreversibility of nuclear waste.
Rhetoric of resilience
Recovery of the state or recovery of the people?
Beyond Nuclear International By Mia Winther-Tamaki, 12 May 24
The Japanese people and landscapes still feel the unending impacts of a nuclear catastrophe that occurred a dozen years ago. Thousands of black bags litter the Fukushima exclusion zone enclosing radioactive earth and rubbish with nowhere to go. Japan has begun releasing millions of tons of radioactive wastewater into the sea. The death and destruction of the earthquake and tsunami — a tragedy in itself — was compounded by nuclear calamity…………………….
The Japanese government was responsible for not only creating the circumstance of neglect that caused the nuclear meltdown, but also for exacerbating the impacts of nuclear fallout through a delayed and opaque response that downplayed the severity of the catastrophe…………….
Following the nuclear disaster, Japan shifted to a necessary post-disaster survival and recovery strategy that can be characterized by the term “resilience,” defined by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction as the ability to “resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through…preservation and restoration…”………………………………………………………………………..
“Bouncing-back” and other resilience neologisms championed by the state are inherently at odds with the irreversibility of nuclear waste. The Japanese translation of resilience, “fukkō” (復興), was employed as a catchphrase in building “apparatuses of [capital] capture” out of crisis, according to Sabu Kohso in his 2020 book Radiation and Revolution. In what Kohso calls the “nuclear capitalist nation-state,” the government endeavored to “build back better” and rejuvenate the national economy amidst an unprecedented crisis by implementing a series of fukkō reforms. These reforms included cuts in public spending, tax incentives targeted at international investors and the procurement of construction contracts, all of which ultimately proved advantageous for nuclear corporations and other private actors in the “business of reconstruction.”
The government used the disaster conveniently for profit-making, further transferring the nation’s wealth to the elites, while further immiserating the people. TEPCO exempted itself from responsibility for the nuclear meltdown when it referred to radiation as a “masterless object” (無主物), therefore absolving any self-accountability for cleaning up the radiation emitted from TEPCO’s own nuclear reactors.
Strategic documents such as the government’s 2012 white paper titled, “Toward a Robust and Resilient Society” were published with the intention of “nurturing the dreams and hopes of the people,” ………………………………………………………………….
While enlisting idealistic language and visions of a future, the Japanese state failed to provide basic amenities, housing, resources and support for the Japanese people who had essentially become nuclear refugees. The state divisively categorized evacuees as either “mandatory” or “voluntary,” based on the proximity of their homes to the site of the nuclear meltdown, though it has been shown that deadly levels of radioactivity persisted far outside mandatory zoned areas.
……………………………………………………………..The media ignored the resistance movement, dismissing the public’s widespread anticipation and anxiety about future nuclear accidents, and instead toed the government’s line about nuclear energy as safe.
Community-driven resilience led by activists focused on a diverse range of concerns, including anti-capitalism, feminism and environmentalism. Spearheading this resistance were mothers and those who work to provide everyday needs, tirelessly organizing networks of information-sharing and support. For the sake of their children and loved ones, those in caregiving roles questioned the government’s opaque reports of radiation levels, though they were often denigrated as “hysterical” and “paranoid” by authorities and other family members, according to Kohso. Within the confines of Japan’s patriarchal society, which frequently undermines the value of womens’ knowledge, female activists subverted norms that “freed them from a degree of social control, giving them greater freedom to mobilize.”
Author Nicole Frieiner documents how women mobilized resistance in informal digital spaces, such as a Facebook group named “Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation,” and a blog titled “Connecting Mother’s Blog.” They created safe and accessible spaces that supported alternative points of connection for people across the world. Artists were also crucial to the Fukushima nuclear resistance.
………………………………………………………………… Survivors of Fukushima must live not only with the trauma caused by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, but also that which followed in the ambiguous aftermath — years of a violent lack of acknowledgement, dignity and respect from public authorities………………………………………………………. more https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/05/12/rhetoric-of-resilience/
Government asks Genkai mayor to accept site survey to host nuclear waste
Industry minister Ken Saito has asked the mayor of the town of Genkai in Saga Prefecture to accept a so-called literature survey, as part of the process for selecting a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear plants.
Saito sought understanding from Genkai Mayor Shintaro Wakiyama at a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday, saying that “the literature survey is not directly connected to the selection.”
Last month, the Genkai town assembly approved a petition submitted by local business groups asking for the literature survey request to be accepted.
“I’m torn between the town assembly’s decision and my thinking,” Wakiyama told reporters after the meeting with Saito. The mayor said that he will make a decision by the end of this month.
A literature survey is the first of three stages in the selection process for disposal sites, and involves the condition of geological strata being examined on paper, based on maps and other data.
So far, a literature survey has been accepted only by the town of Suttsu and the village of Kamoenai, both in Hokkaido.
For a literature survey to be conducted, a local government must apply for or accept a central government request.
Inside abandoned ghost town at Fukushima after nuclear power plant meltdown
Tokyo Matilda from Sheffield is one of the few to visit the nuclear ghost town of Fukushima in Japan
Mirror UK, Cecilia Adamou, 5 May 24
Tokyo Matilda, a 20-year-old from Sheffield, England, embarked on a mission to delve into this deserted ghost town of Fukushima in Japan. The area was subject to disaster when the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant nearby went into meltdown following the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, leaking toxic nuclear waste into the environment and deeming it uninhabitable due to radiation.
As residents evacuated the town, never to return, it is now frozen in time and has been left subject to the elements for the 13 years since the catastrophe. What remains is an abandoned, apocalyptic wasteland similar to the setting of the Fallout games and TV series. The only people that remain are those trying to bring it back from extinction.
While visiting the disaster site, Tokyo explored a theme park, a school and even a ramen café that have all been empty since 2011. She said: “It reminded me of Fallout as it had such a heavy apocalyptic feeling. The only people who were walking around were the workers who try everyday to get rid of the radiated soil and to make it safe once again.”
The danger of radiation poisoning was a very real risk for Tokyo as she explored the many sights. She explained: “The hospital was the highest radiated place we explored located in the Red Zone. We had the fear of staying too long and having radiation sickness, I have never been as scared as I was in there.”…………………. more https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/inside-abandoned-ghost-town-fukushima-32696396
IAEA clears Japanese reactor for 60-year lifetime
Following a review, unit 3 at the Mihama nuclear power plant (NPP) has been deemed fit for further operation.
Alfie Shaw, April 26, 2024
Ateam of experts from the International Atomic Agency (IAEA) has found that Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Company is implementing timely measures for the safe long-term operation of unit 3 at its Mihama NPP.
Under regulations that came into force in July 2013, Japanese reactors have a nominal operating period of 40 years; 20-year extensions can be granted once, but this is contingent on exacting safety requirements.
Kansai’s Mihama unit 3, a 780MW pressurised water reactor that entered commercial operation in 1976, was granted an extension by Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in November 2016, giving the unit a licence to operate until 2036. Unit 3 at Mihama was the third Japanese unit to be granted a licence extension enabling it to operate beyond 40 years under the revised regulations, following Takahama units 1 and 2, which received NRA approval in June 2016.
Following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011, Mihama shut down, lying idle until restarting in June 2021. It became the first Japanese reactor to operate beyond 40 years…………………………………………….
Power Technology 26th April 2024 https://www.power-technology.com/news/mihama-nuclear-unit-sees-extension-to-60-year-lifetime/
.
Japan city assembly OKs request for nuclear waste site survey
If the mayor gives the green light, the Saga Prefecture town that hosts Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s four-reactor Genkai Nuclear Power Station will receive up to 2 billion yen ($12.9 million) in state subsidies for allowing the survey,
Three local associations in the construction, restaurant and accommodation sectors submitted separate requests for the survey to the assembly, with some hoping the subsidies and survey activity will prop up the local economy.
April 26, 2024 (Mainichi Japan) https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240426/p2g/00m/0na/027000c
SAGA, Japan (Kyodo) — The municipal assembly of Genkai in southwestern Japan gave the go-ahead Friday for the town to request a preliminary survey by the state to gauge its suitability to host an underground disposal site for highly radioactive waste.
The Genkai assembly is the first in the country hosting a nuclear plant to approve such a survey request. Mayor Shintaro Wakiyama said he plans to make the final decision in May regarding whether to request the survey, the first part of a three-stage, 20-year process to select a permanent storage site for waste from nuclear power generation.
If the mayor gives the green light, the Saga Prefecture town that hosts Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s four-reactor Genkai Nuclear Power Station will receive up to 2 billion yen ($12.9 million) in state subsidies for allowing the survey, which will check ground conditions and volcanic activity based on published geological sources.
After the nine-member assembly adopted the request by a majority vote, Wakiyama told reporters the decision “reflects the will of the people. I take it seriously.”
Saga Gov. Yoshinori Yamaguchi, meanwhile, expressed reluctance about locating a waste disposal site in Genkai. With the prefecture already hosting a nuclear plant, he told a press conference, “It would be unbalanced for (Saga) to shoulder such a burden.”
Three local associations in the construction, restaurant and accommodation sectors submitted separate requests for the survey to the assembly, with some hoping the subsidies and survey activity will prop up the local economy.
The associations called on the town, as a host of a nuclear power plant, to proactively cooperate with the central government.
Japan, like other countries, is struggling to find permanent disposal sites for nuclear waste. Only two municipalities — Suttsu and Kamoenai in Hokkaido in northern Japan — have approved preliminary site surveys, which commenced in 2020.
But the surveys have taken longer than the scheduled two years, and it remains unclear whether either process will move to the second stage as local opposition remains strong.
High-level radioactive waste, produced when extracting uranium and plutonium from spent fuel, must be stored in bedrock at least 300 meters underground for tens of thousands of years until radioactivity declines to levels that are not harmful to human health or the environment.
The waste, solidified by mixing with glass, is currently housed in metal containers stored at the Vitrified Waste Storage Center operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture.
Corrosion found in treated radioactive water tanks at Fukushima plant
Apr. 21 , https://japantoday.com/category/national/corrosion-found-in-treated-radioactive-water-tanks-at-fukushima-plantTOKYO
Corrosion has been found on the inside of tanks used to store treated radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, its operator has revealed.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc said there are no problems with the strength of the tanks, but added that some of the more than 1,000 containers at the plant were installed over 10 years ago and have aged over time.
A TEPCO official said the operator will continue to inspect the tanks.
The firm began releasing the treated water containing tritium from the plant into the Pacific Ocean in August 2023 despite backlash from local fisheries and China.
In March, corrosion and peeling paint were spotted in three empty tanks that have been in use since 2016 at the plant, which suffered meltdowns following the devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011.
As it is impossible to check the inside of tanks currently containing treated water, other than with the use of underwater robots, TEPCO conducts annual exterior inspections to detect any abnormalities.
Tanks that have been used for more than 10 years also have the thickness of their steel plates measured using ultrasonic waves to assess their strength, TEPCO said.
The Japanese government and TEPCO have said that the treated water released from the Fukushima plant is diluted to reduce the levels of tritium to less than one-40th of the country’s national safety standards.
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