TEPCO begins releasing groundwater diverted at Fukushima plant into sea
Source: Asahi Shimbun
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has started diverting uncontaminated groundwater at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the sea, in an attempt to reduce the vast quantity of radioactive water accumulating on site.
At a news conference on May 21, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the start of the water bypass project represents a “small step” in tackling the buildup of contaminated water, which has been a major source of public concern.
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The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations gave its consent to the water bypass project in March.
“It was an agonizing decision for fishermen in the area to endorse the plan,” Suga said. “We will have the industry ministry strictly instruct TEPCO to abide by its rules on contamination levels of water to be released.”
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Read more: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201405210035
= new reply since forum marked as read
The plant has regulatory guidelines (predating 3/11) that allow certain releases. For Cs137 it's up to 90 Bq/L. The WHO standard for drinking water is 10 Bq/L.
As part of the plan that the local fisherman approved, Tepco agreed to limit these releases to 1 Bq/L and to have a 3rd party test the water before release. The regulators are saying that they're going to hold Tepco to that tighter standard.
The new release was measured (for 137) to be under .05 Bq/L by both Tepco and the 3rd party.
