Japan begins releasing Fukushima wastewater into ocean
일본, 12년 만에 후쿠시마 오염수 방류 개시 Good evening. Thank you for joining us. I'm Yoon Jung-min. It has been a catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant some 12 years ago. And today, Japan began releasing the first batch of Fukushima water into the Pacific Ocean. Let's go straight to our Kim Jung-sil standing by. Jung-sil, what's happening now and how much does Tokyo plan to discharge on the first day? Well Jung-min, the wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is still being released as we speak. TEPCO officials said that by midnight tonight, 200 to 210 tons of wastewater will have been released into the ocean. As of this hour, no signs of emergency suspension or malfunctions have been reported. Japan’s NHK says it took 12 years for Japan to finally take care of the stored wastewater , which has been a problem since the 2011 Tohoku tsunami and earthquake incident that destroyed most of Fukushima’s nuclear reactors. And it’s going to take the next 30 years for the wastewater release to complete. So securing safety over the next decades, and overcoming challenges against reputational damage against Fukushima, and furthermore Japan will become a new challenge for Japan to face. I see , you mentioned that the wastewater was stored at the nuclear plant, how much is left? And tell us more about tritium, something that TEPCO officials talked about this morning. There are more than 1-point-3 million tons of wastewater being stored in around a thousand tanks. They've been in there since disaster took place in 2011. Using a filter called ALPS, TEPCO officials on Tuesday checked the concentration levels of tritium, one substance they cannot get rid of through ALPS, and said the level was around 43 to 63 becquerels per liter, far below a self-designated standard of 1,500 becquerels. After the wastewater goes through the ALPS, it gets diluted with a large amount of seawater before being released into the ocean using an underwater pipe. Since the weather today was nice as well, with the tide not too high, TEPCO gave the go-ahead for the release so that they can continue to monitor it. Japan hopes to release around 460 tons of wastewater per day for the next 17 days , mounting to 7-thousand 8 hundred tons in total. Jung-sil, the release procedure will take up to 30 years , what happens from now? One of the biggest challenges that remain for Japan, even with the beginning of the wastewater disposal, is getting rid of the fuel debris, a mixture of melted nuclear fuel and structures surrounding it, that were found on the floor of reactor numbers one to three. Since TEPCO released a plan to decommission the Fukushima nuclear power plant by around 2050, experts in Japan warn getting rid of the highly radioactive nuclear fuel debris will be the toughest challenge. Around 880 tons of that debris are kept in those reactors and Japan's Asahi Shimbun said not a gram of it has been taken out as of this March. So , releasing the wastewater wasn't even the hard part.Back to you, Jung-min. #Japan #Fukushima #Waste_water #Release #일본 #후쿠시마 #오염수 #방류 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스 📣 Facebook : / arirangtvnews 📣 Twitter : / arirangtvnews 📣 Homepage : https://v2.arirang.com/ 2023-08-24, 18:00 (KST)
