Japan Fukushima contaminated water discharge undersea tunnel construction to start on the 25th

Japanese Government Plans to Release Contaminated Water Starting Next Spring

Members of the Seoul Environmental Movement Union held a march on May 12 last year around Cheonggyecheon-ro in Seoul to condemn the Japanese government's decision to discharge radioactive contaminated water from Fukushima. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Construction of an underwater tunnel for the ocean discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan will begin on the 25th.

According to the Sankei Shimbun on the 23rd, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced that it will start waterproof gate maintenance work, which corresponds to the exit part of the underwater tunnel, on the 25th.

The underwater construction will be carried out at a depth of 13 meters in the sea, 1 km away from the coast of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Since the explosion accident caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, contaminated water containing radioactive materials has been generated daily at a rate of 130 to 150 tons due to the inflow of groundwater and rainwater into the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

TEPCO purifies the contaminated water using the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) and stores it in storage tanks on the plant site. However, tritium, a radioactive material contained in the contaminated water, is not removed even after purification with ALPS.

The Japanese government and TEPCO plan to discharge the contaminated water diluted with seawater through a 1 km long underwater tunnel starting next spring.

Local fishermen's groups maintain their opposition to the discharge, citing damage to fisheries, and neighboring countries such as South Korea and China also oppose the plan.