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A storage tank for contaminated water near the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster

The Japanese government announced that it had invited diplomats in Tokyo to its Foreign Ministry for a briefing on the current situation regarding contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster. While it has held 103 such briefings to date, this was the first announcement about one.

“Since the start [of the briefings], we have continued to provide information to diplomats in Tokyo about conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant since the East Japan earthquake,” the ministry explained on Sept. 4.

“This was the 103rd briefing, and we explained about how Japan has taken advantage of opportunities with international conferences of the IAEA and others to swiftly and proactively transmit information,” it continued. The briefing was attended by diplomats from 22 countries and regions around the world, including South Korea and Taiwan.

The Japanese government’s unusual move in announcing the event is being seen as a reflection of recent concerns being raised by Seoul over contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The continued contamination of water with radioactivity has remained a problem since underground water entered the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which suffered a disaster on Mar. 11, 2011. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which operates the plant, has used a radioactive material removal system known as ALPS (multi-nuclide removal system) to treat the contaminated water. According to the Japanese government, ALPS has been used to clean the water of 62 types of radioactive material, not including tritium (a hydrogen isotope that shares many properties with regular hydrogen). Contaminated water that has been treated with ALPS is being stored in tanks on the Fukushima Daiichi site.

The problem is that the amount of contaminated water being stored reached 1.12 million tons early this year, while site issues mean that the limits of tank storage could be reached within just a few years. For that reason, the Japanese government is pushing to have the water released into the sea. But based on an investigation of 890,000 tons of Fukushima Daiichi water that had undergone ALPS purification (950,000 tons total), TEPCO announced in September 2018 that 750,000 tons – more than 80% – still included radioactive material above emission standards. Fukushima-area fishers continue to oppose the release of Fukushima Daiichi water in the ocean on that basis, and the Japanese government has yet to proceed with the discharge.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

Caption: Storage tanks for contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2017. (photo pool)