Properly Functioning Since 2019? Fukushima Contaminated Water Treatment Facility Also Malfunctioned Last Year

Fukushima Contaminated Water Discharge Daily Briefing
"Plan to Confirm Long-term Operation Feasibility of ALPS"

Ahead of the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, researchers from the Aquatic Products Safety Inspection Team of the Agricultural and Fisheries Products Inspection Department at the Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, conducted radiation safety inspections on seafood.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The government acknowledged that there were eight malfunctions in Japan's Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) for treating radioactive contaminated water up until last year.

On the 16th, Park Gu-yeon, the First Deputy Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, stated at the second daily briefing held at the Government Seoul Office Complex, "The inspection team for the Fukushima nuclear power plant obtained a list of major ALPS malfunction cases during their inspection in May," adding, "We confirmed that from 2013 to last year, there were a total of eight malfunctions in ALPS equipment, including equipment corrosion, pre-treatment facility filter issues, and exhaust filter problems."

This contradicts the content of the daily briefing held the previous day. Deputy Minister Park had said, "In the early stages of ALPS operation, there were cases where strontium was not removed due to malfunctions and was stored, but most of the issues exceeding standards occurred because the degraded adsorbent was not replaced frequently," and added, "(Tokyo Electric Power Company) explained that since 2019, the system has been operating normally without such problems."

Deputy Minister Park also said, "The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety review team is conducting a detailed analysis of the malfunction case data obtained by the inspection team," and "They will also review additional acquired regular inspection items and equipment maintenance plans to verify the long-term operational feasibility of ALPS."