Scheme of water discharge from the emergency nuclear power plant “Fukushima-1” – Kommersant

On August 24, the Japanese company Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) began dumping water into the ocean that was used to cool the reactors at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. Water purified from all radionuclides, except for tritium, was stored in tanks. By now they are almost 90% full. According to the plan approved by the IAEA specialists, the water containing tritium will be diluted with sea water to a safe level and discharged into the ocean in portions through an underground tunnel 1 km long. For every cubic meter of water from the station, 1.2 thousand cubic meters of water from the ocean will be required. The first stage of the operation will last 17 days, during which time a little less than 8 thousand tons of diluted water will be discharged. In total, this process will take 30 years.

Despite the approval of the IAEA, the decision of the Japanese authorities caused a negative reaction from neighboring countries, as well as protests from local environmentalists and fishermen. TEPCO, in turn, claims that purified water is completely safe. The content of tritium in it before discharge is brought to one fortieth of the safety standard established by the International Commission on Radiological Protection and the Government of Japan. In addition, this is one seventh of the acceptable norm set for drinking water by the World Health Organization.

Recall that the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant occurred in March 2011 after a strong earthquake and tsunami. It led to the meltdown of nuclear fuel at the first, second and third reactors of the station. The area within a radius of 20 km from the station became an exclusion zone, which was forced to leave about 160 thousand people.