The Japanese government has decided to discharge a large amount of radioactive material contaminated water into the sea caused by the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear accident.
Japan has decided to strengthen and apply its own safety standards, but the idea of dumping enormous amounts of contaminated water over 1.25 million tons into the sea from the accidental nuclear power plant has raised many controversies and concerns.
The Japanese government decided today at a meeting of ministers concerned with a plan for discharging contaminated water stored in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant tank into the ocean.
Prior to discharge, most radionuclides are removed with a multi-nuclide removal facility, but tritium cannot be filtered out, so the idea is to mix water to lower the concentration before discharging.
It is expected that it will take about two years for actual release as it requires examination and approval by the Japan Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission.
According to TEPCO, as of the 18th of last month, 1.25,844 tons of contaminated water are stored in the tank at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Tokyo Electric Power and the Japanese government refer to water that has been filtered out of contaminated water by a multi-nuclear removal facility as'treated water'.
The Japanese government decided on a basic policy at a ministerial meeting held at the Prime Minister's residence this morning, saying that if the situation where water tanks are lined up at the Fukushima nuclear power plant site is not changed, there is a possibility that there is a possibility of a major obstacle to the decommissioning operation in the future.
A plan was adopted to dilute with seawater until the radiation dose of tritium contained in contaminated water is less than 1,500 becquerels per liter and then discharge.
Japan sets a concentration limit of 6 becquerels per liter when tritium is released into the ocean, but the plan is to dilute it to less than one 40th of the standard and discharge it.
(Photo = Yonhap News)