Wastewater release from Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant was temporarily suspended on Friday after the earthquake, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced.
While we have confirmed remotely that there were no abnormalities on ALPS treated water dilution/discharge facility, etc., to be on the safe side, we have suspended the operations of the facilities in accordance with the pre-defined operational procedures.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the 5.8 magnitude tremor occurred at 00:14am on Friday morning (15:14 GMT on Thursday) off the coast of the northeastern region of Fukushima, the site of a power plant damaged by the 2011 tsunami.
A few hours later, TEPCO stated that “no abnormalities” were detected, with its spokesman reporting that water discharges would resume later on Friday.
At the Fukushima Daiichi NPS, we have confirmed that there are no abnormalities in facilities that have been suspended, such as ALPS treated water dilution/discharge facility. We are resuming their operation sequentially.
No radiation leakage has been detected and “readings from monitoring posts remain normal.” Japan’s nuclear regulator also stated shortly after the earthquake that no abnormalities were detected at the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi plant or its subsidiary Fukushima Daini.
Last August, TEPCO began releasing into the Pacific Ocean some 540 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of wastewater that had accumulated at Fukushima Daiichi after the 2011 accident, one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters. The operation was approved by the UN Atomic Energy Agency, with TEPCO claiming that all radioactive elements had been filtered out except for tritium, whose levels were within safe limits.
China and Russia criticised the release into the Pacific Ocean and banned imports of Japanese seafood, arguing that Japan was polluting the environment.
