The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) verified it has installed the last piece of equipment needed in an undersea tunnel to release advanced liquid processing system (ALPS)-treated water from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
The ALPS process aims to remove most radioactive isotopes, allowing them to decay. However, purification cannot fully expel tritium, so TEPCO plans to dilute the treated water with seawater to bring the tritium content to within allowable levels and release it to the ocean via a one-kilometer-long underwater pipe.
Although the plant recently received negative attention when it came to light that its base had significantly corroded, the actual danger of the treated water release is insignificant. Releasing tritium produced from reactor operations into the sea is a common and safe process within limits.
Japan’s regulatory concentration limit for tritium in water is 60,000 becquerels per liter, and the World Health Organization’s drinking water standard guideline is 10,000 becquerels per liter. TEPCO’s aim for 1,500 becquerels per liter is 40 times more stringent than the national standard.
However safe it may be, some foreign governments are responding with threats of expanding existing bans on Fukushima-area products, including seafood, and testing requirements associated with the plant. Even some domestic groups are expressing grave concern.
On 22 June, Masanobu Sakamoto, the president of JF Zengyoren (National Federation of Fishermen's Cooperative Associations), handed Japan Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura a resolution stating JF’s continued opposition to the release of the treated Fukushima reactor cooling water.
“The JF Group is committed to the decommissioning of the plant,” he said. “We, the JF Group, do not deny the decommissioning efforts themselves. However, we are opposed to the offshore discharge of ALPS-treated water, and this will not change in the slightest.”
JF requested Japan's government keep providing support to fishers impacted by the disaster and its aftermath, and to continue clearly communicate with fishers and the public about its actions and their impact, so as not to elicit any more bad publicity. It also asked that the government work to ensure Japanese seafood is kept safe to eat.
Despite the scientific consensus on the safety of the water release, on 11 June, Hong Kong Secretary for the Environment and Ecology Chin-wan Tse said that he might expand restrictions on Japanese seafood imports from the five prefectures under continued scrutiny, depending on test results from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He also said Hong Kong may expand its screening process to more incoming shipments of seafood from Japan, potentially slowing the import process and jeopardize the quality of time-sensitive, air-flown chilled imports like seafood.
Additionally, on 7 June, South Korea's National Assembly agreed to create a special committee to hold hearings on the safety of products potentially impacted by the released wastewater from the damaged plant. Lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party of Korea will head the special committee after the assembly formally passes the bill forming the committee.
Koichi Aiboshi, the Japanese ambassador to South Korea, met with Representive Gi-hyeon Kim, the chairperson of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party on, 7 June. Aiboshi said Japan will strive to issue extensive and clear communications to provide the Korean people with sincere explanations of their actions, based on scientific evidence and transparency.
“We recognize that there are continuing concerns in Korea about the treated water,” he said in the meeting. “As [Japan] Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida said when he was in Seoul last month, the release will not be carried out in a manner that could adversely affect the health of Japanese or Korean people or the environment.”
South Korea banned all seafood imports from eight Japanese prefectures near Fukushima in 2013 on concerns over their radiation levels.
The country’s imports from Japan of live, refrigerated, and frozen fish and shellfish fell 26 percent year-over-year in April 2023 and 30.6 percent in May 2023, according to the Korean Customs Service.
In spite of public concerns, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) is pushing forward with the process. On 26 June, it said all equipment is in place and awaiting safety inspections. NRA Chairman Shinichi Yamanaka, who inspected the ALPS system on 24 June, said the final pre-use inspection includes a water flow test, a comprehensive test, and a performance test of the emergency shutoff valve.
TEPCO could receive a safety permit for the release about a week after that inspection wraps up, and discharge of the treated water is likely to occur this summer.
Photo courtesy of JF Zengyoren
