Workers who disappeared, breeding flounder ... What happened at "Ichief" March 6, 17:03
Twelve years have passed since the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
As a reporter, I was once in charge of verifying the accident and reporting on the decommissioning of the reactor, but the other day I visited the site for the first time in six years.
What I saw there was a mixture of dramatic changes that I could not have imagined at the time, and difficulties that I still cannot overcome.
(Taku Kunieda, Fukushima Bureau News Desk)
*Ichief = TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
First "1" and Fukushima "F" are commonly called "1F (Ichief)".
as it is
The scenery of the difficult-to-return zone spreads out from the bus window on the way to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
A crumbling house with no one to live in.
A store that is exposed to the elements and is in ruins.
Some buildings have been left there for a long time, while others stand out as vacant lots.
The roadside of Route 6 was changing.
I was in charge of covering the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant from 2014 to 2017.
At that time, the site was a battle between "radiation" and "water."
How has the situation changed since then, or has it remained the same?
I went into the interview to tell the truth.
missing workers
After going through strict entry procedures, I entered the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant for the first time in a while.
The first thing that surprised me was that the number of decommissioning workers had drastically decreased.
About 7,500 workers used to work there every day.
A group of "completely protected" people in protective clothing and full-face masks walked around the premises, and the rest facilities were crowded with workers.
Where did so many workers disappear?
Mr. Ota
: “When the radiation levels were high, we shortened the working hours of each person and took turns working to reduce the amount of radiation exposure. The amount of radiation has decreased, and we no longer need to resort to man-wave tactics like we used to.Now we can work more systematically and safely.”
Now there are 4000 people, half of the peak time.
It is said that the risk of radiation has decreased due to the work that has been continued since immediately after the accident, such as removing debris and decontamination, and the number of workers has gradually decreased as large-scale civil engineering work has been completed.
Dramatic changes in water issues
The problem of "water" was also changing greatly.
In the reactor building, "contaminated water" containing highly concentrated radioactive materials, which is made by groundwater and rainwater flowing into the water that cools the melted nuclear fuel, is still accumulated at a pace of 100 tons per day (from April to November last year). ).
It was the fall of 2014 when I entered the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant for the first time.
Around that time, full-scale operation of the contaminated water treatment system ALPS began.
At that time, there was a series of troubles at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, such as highly-concentrated contaminated water leaking from tanks.
When I reported from the site, I remember being relieved, saying, "The risk of contaminated water is finally going down."
“This device, housed in a huge tent-like building, is the Alps, which is considered the cornerstone of contaminated water treatment. (from the site report at the time)
Alps purifies the polluted water through filters and other means, removing most of the radioactive material except for tritium.
The water that has undergone this treatment is called "treated water."
A total of 1.32 million tons of treated water has been generated so far.
There were over 1,000 storage tanks, covering a wide area of the site.
The total capacity has already reached 96%, and according to TEPCO, if the increase continues, it will be full by autumn this year.
TEPCO plans to dilute the treated water with seawater in accordance with the government's policy to reduce the concentration of tritium to less than 1/40th of the standard, and will start decommissioning in the sea "from spring to summer" this year. plans to release it to
However, there are deep-rooted voices of concern about reputational damage, especially among local fishermen.
The government and TEPCO are doing all they can to publicize their understanding of the plan, claiming that the treated water is safe, but it is not yet understood by society.
On the other hand, the construction of facilities for discharging treated water was nearing its final stage.
In the past, the problem of "water" at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was the reduction of the risk of contaminated water.
Although the risk was reduced, contaminated water continued to be generated, resulting in a large amount of treated water.
Little did I know at the time that disposal of treated water would become such a pressing issue.
Raising flounder at the nuclear power plant
Regarding the release of treated water into the ocean, efforts were being made that were unimaginable at the former Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
A prefabricated building in one corner of the premises.
The interior is lined with large water tanks measuring several meters square, just like the backyard of an aquarium.
That flounder was bred there.
The number, 400 tails.
What on earth is going on?
This was a laboratory for demonstrating the safety of releasing treated water.
The flounder is reared in two types of tanks, one containing treated water with a standard concentration for release, and the other containing normal seawater. We continue to observe to confirm
Furthermore, the state of breeding is distributed on YouTube and Twitter.
According to the person in charge, there was no difference in the speed of growth, the rate of death or disease, and it was confirmed that tritium did not accumulate in the body so far.
Abalone is also kept in another aquarium, and similar data have been obtained.
If you want to publicize the safety of treated water discharge, there must be various other methods.
Despite this, why did you choose the delicate and risky method of breeding living things?
The person in charge of breeding explains that this is the result of searching for a way to transmit information that is easier to understand.
Mr. Kazuo Yamamoto, TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Decommissioning & Decommissioning Engineering Company
, “There is a downside in the nuclear field, where explanations tend to tend to be technical explanations. Although it is a risky approach to gain a sense of security, I thought it would be most effective to show the flounder and abalone healthy.It has been 40 years since I joined the company myself. I never thought that flounder would be raised at the nuclear power plant.”
From “telling” to “transmitting” information.
Trial and error continued at the site.
A wall that stands unchanged
On the other hand, I was confronted with the same reality as six years ago.
A dosimeter installed in a microbus that moves around the campus.
A value of 0.3 microsieverts was shown at a distance of about 500 meters from the reactor building.
However, as it approached the building, it rose rapidly.
At a distance of about 100 meters from Unit 1, it was around 30 to 40 microsieverts.
The melted fuel debris is certainly behind the crumbling concrete walls of the accident.
And even now, 12 years after the accident, it continues to emit strong radiation.
Preparations for removal have progressed steadily, including taking pictures of deposits that appear to be debris and coming into contact with them.
However, it has been postponed twice so far due to the need to improve the robot arm and damage to the device that prevents radioactive materials from scattering from the pipes.
Preparations are currently underway for the second half of next year.
Mr. Hideto Ota, Public Relations Department, Fukushima, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc.
“Removing the spent fuel, and then removing the fuel debris. We are confirming the safety, and it will take time, but we are doing our best.”
Six years ago, when I succeeded in photographing the inside of the containment vessel for the first time, I hoped that the plan for "removal" would proceed smoothly.
However, after that, it was hindered by high radiation, and it was forced to review the process.
This time, when I stood at the site, I felt that the wall of the reactor building rising in front of me was taller than ever before.
Turning point for "treated water" decommissioning
Visiting the site for the first time in six years, I felt that decommissioning was indeed progressing.
Among them, the planned release of treated water into the sea is said to be a major turning point for decommissioning in the future.
At the site, construction work for the release was progressing, but on the contrary, it is becoming more and more clear that the local people and society do not understand it.
The government and TEPCO say that delays in decommissioning Ichief should not stop the reconstruction of Fukushima.
However, this does not mean that the treated water can be easily discharged.
Twelve years after the accident, Fukushima is in conflict.
Fukushima Bureau News Desk Joined in 2009 after working at
Taku
Kunieda Shimbun Company After working
at the Matsuyama Bureau, the Science and Culture Department of the Press Bureau, and the Saga Bureau, he is currently a member