Fukushima Contaminated Water Discharge Tunnel, Seawater Injection Completed... Construction to Finish by End of This Month

Japan has completed the operation of injecting seawater into the underwater tunnel used for discharging contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, reported on the 6th.

According to NHK, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) began injecting about 6,000 tons of seawater into the underwater tunnel from both the land and sea sides starting the previous day, and finished the operation at 5 a.m. on the same day. Once the heavy excavation equipment used for the tunnel construction is retrieved, the tunnel construction will be complete.

Fukushima nuclear power plant contaminated water storage tank. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, TEPCO completed the approximately 1,030-meter-long underwater tunnel on April 25. The Japanese government plans to dilute the contaminated water by mixing it with seawater at a ratio of 1 to 40 before discharging it into the sea through the underwater tunnel.

TEPCO has completed part of the tank construction, which corresponds to the final stage before sending the contaminated water into the underwater tunnel, and plans to complete all construction for the marine discharge of contaminated water by the end of this month.

After all operations are completed and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) releases its final report, the Japanese government is expected to begin discharging the contaminated water into the ocean starting this summer.

The IAEA inspection team visited Japan on the 2nd and completed a comprehensive verification process. The IAEA is scheduled to release the final report within this month.