TOKYO, November 20. /TASS/. Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), operator of the Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant, has completed the third stage of discharge of decontaminated water that was used to cool the power plant’s reactors, the power company announced.
No incidents were registered during the third stage of water discharge. No elevated level of tritium content in the sea water was registered. Like during the previous two stages, about 7,800 tons of water was discharged in batches of no more than 500 tons per day. The fourth stage is expected to begin early next year.
In March, 2011, a tsunami disabled energy and cooling installations at the Fukushima-1 NPP, causing a meltdown in three reactors, explosions and discharge of a large amount of radioactive material. By now, the power plant territory and the surrounding area have been almost completely decontaminated. However, water is being constantly pumped inside the destroyed reactors to cool down nuclear fuel fragments and flows out through structural gaps being highly contaminated with radiation.
Right now, there is over 1.34 million tons of water accumulated at the power plant. In this regard, the Japanese government made a decision to discharge decontaminated water into the ocean. This operation will stretch throughout the next 30 to 40 years. This process was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but causes discontent in a number of states, mainly China.
The water is being decontaminated with the ALPS system, but it still contains tritium that cannot be removed. This water is being diluted with sea water. The maximum allowed tritium concentration stands at 1,500 Becquerel per liter; the measurements, carried out in the ocean by Japanese authorities and the IAEA confirm that these parameters are being met.