Preparations were underway Wednesday at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan for beginning the discharge of treated radioactive water into the sea the following day.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., measured the concentration level of tritium in the treated water, which is diluted with seawater to ensure it is below one-40th of what is permitted under Japanese safety standards, before discharging it via an underwater tunnel 1 kilometer from the complex.
The Japanese government announced Tuesday that the discharge would begin on Thursday if weather conditions permit, while Japan's fisheries industry and some neighboring countries such as China remain opposed to the move, with local fishermen and businesses fearing reputational damage to their products.
In parallel to TEPCO, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency also monitor the radiation concentration levels by analyzing samples of treated water to ensure safety.
For carrying out the monitoring, TEPCO utilizes advanced technologies such as a "smart glasses" wearable device, which provides procedural and analytical guidance to prevent mistakes for critical tasks, and a data management system introduced in 2020 that uses barcodes to process information.
The system's introduction helped the company significantly reduce errors and data processing times compared to previously, where workers had to manually fill in data on paper.
"We will be continuously monitoring tritium during the discharge. We do our best to prevent errors," Junichi Suzuki, a TEPCO manager, said.
TEPCO expects to increase its monitoring and expand its analytical infrastructure after the discharge begins, as it is likely to take 30 years or more.
The water used in the cleanup efforts for the 2011 nuclear disaster, caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami, has been kept in tanks that were installed at the site after undergoing treatment through an advanced liquid processing system, which removed most radionuclides except tritium.
The tanks, which now total over 1,000 and contain about 1.34 million tons of water, are nearing their full capacity and are expected to do so as early as 2024, with the plant operator claiming they must initiate the water release as a result.
The government and TEPCO have said that further increasing the number of tanks is difficult and that releasing the water into the ocean is necessary for continuing with the decommissioning work, which requires space and facilities for storing debris on the site.
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