TEPCO Completes 3rd Round of Fukushima Water Release

Jiji Press

12:48 JST, November 21, 2023

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. has completed the third round of releasing into the sea tritium-containing treated water from its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

In its announcement Monday, the plant operator added that there were no equipment problems, such as leaks, or abnormalities in tritium levels.

TEPCO plans to conduct another round of such water release before the end of March, which is expected to start after the turn of the year.

In the third round, which began Nov. 2, the company discharged some 7,800 tons of the treated water, the same amount as in the previous two rounds, through an undersea tunnel after diluting it with seawater.

TEPCO plans to release a total of some 31,200 tons of the treated water in four rounds in the year through March.

Since it began releasing the treated water, the company has been monitoring tritium levels in nearby waters on a daily basis. In addition, the Environment Ministry, the Fisheries Agency and others are also conducting tritium tests on seawater and fishery products.

In their monitoring efforts, tritium levels have been well below the government-set standard.