Fukushima water release: Japan begins releasing third batch of treated waste water from stricken nuclear plant

Name: What is tritium? The radioactive element that caused controversy during the Fukushima water release
Uploaded: 2023-11-02T09:00:27.000Z
Duration: 9 min 16 s
Description: What is tritium? The radioactive element that caused controversy during the Fukushima water release

The Fukushima plant expects to release 7,800 tons of treated water into the ocean until November 20 – the same amount as the first two rounds of discharges

The discharges have been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighbouring countries, with China immediately banning all imports of Japanese seafood

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said it began releasing a third batch of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea. Photo: Handout via AP

Associated PressandAgence France-Presse

Published: 5:00pm, 2 Nov 2023Updated: 5:00pm, 2 Nov 2023

The tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began its third release of treated and diluted radioactive waste water into the sea on Thursday after Japanese officials said the two earlier releases ended smoothly.

The plant operator discharged 7,800 tons of treated water in each of the first two batches and plans to release the same amount in the current batch through November 20.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) said its workers activated the first of the two pumps to dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater, gradually sending the mixture into the Pacific Ocean through an undersea tunnel for an offshore release.

09:16

What is tritium? The radioactive element that caused controversy during the Fukushima water release

The plant began the first waste water release in August and will continue to do so for decades. About 1.34 million tons of radioactive waste water is stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant. It has accumulated since the plant was crippled by the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in 2011.

Tepco and the government say discharging the water into the sea is unavoidable because the tanks are nearly full and the plant needs to be decommissioned.

The waste water discharges have been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighbouring countries including South Korea, where hundreds of people staged protests. China immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood, badly hurting Japanese seafood producers and exporters.

The Chinese ban has particularly harmed scallop fishermen in the northern Hokkaido region, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of the Fukushima plant, who rely on Chinese factories for shelling the molluscs.