Press Release
Commencement of the Discharge of Water Treated with Multi-nuclide Removal Equipment (ALPS Treated Water) into the Sea
August 22, 2023
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc
TEPCO would like to deeply apologize for the great burden and inconvenience that it has caused on the people of Fukushima, and the whole of society, as a result of the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident.
At the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Council held today, the Japanese Government announced that it had made a decision in regards to the commencement period of the discharge of water treated with multi-nuclide removal equipment (hereinafter referred to as, "ALPS treated water") into the sea and asked that TEPCO begin preparations for the commencement of discharge. As the entity responsible for the safe and steady decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, TEPCO is strictly abiding by the Government's decision and request, and shall quickly make preparations to commence discharge with the utmost vigilance in accordance with the implementation plan.
During the initial stages of sea discharge, a very small amount will be carefully discharged using a two-step process.
Firstly, as Stage 1 of the initial discharge of ALPS treated water, today, a very small amount of ALPS treated water will be diluted with seawater and stored in the vertical discharge shaft (upstream water tank) in order to verify that ALPS treated water is being diluted as planned. After this stored water has been sampled and tritium concentrations measured, we will move on to Stage 2, continuous discharge into the sea on and after August 24.
The discharge of ALPS-treated water into the sea is part of the decommissioning process and a long-term/continuous initiative. With our strong determination to prevent reputational damage during this period, TEPCO shall devote all of its resources to ensuring the safety and quality of facility operation, speedily obtaining monitoring results and disseminating that information in an accurate and easy-to-understand manner, ensuring transparency through IAEA reviews, etc., implementing reputational damage countermeasures, and providing suitable compensation should damages be incurred.
Furthermore, in order to ensure that the local community, and society as a whole, can live and continue their livelihoods with peace of mind, we shall continue to carefully explain the current state of decommissioning and safety measures, etc., sincerely address the concerns of society, and respond to the requests of the community one by one to address its needs.
In order to steadily move forward with these initiatives, and, in particular, ensure that nothing is overlooked during the initial stages of discharge into the sea, we shall quickly create a corporate structure* that will enable upper management to ascertain field conditions in a timely manner, and allow the entire company to devote all its resources interdepartmentally to quickly solve issues thereby enabling us to be prepared for anything
TEPCO shall steadily move forward with the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and treated water countermeasures while prioritizing safety as we fulfill our "responsibilities to Fukushima" and enable the region to recover.
*Corporate function strengthening
- Enabling corporate executives to better ascertain field conditions (the Vice-President shall reside on, and supervise, the site, and the President shall visit the site)
- A project team under the direct supervision of the President shall be created to manage interdepartmental cooperation between the power station, and departments responsible for preventing reputational damage and providing compensation, etc.
- A special department devoted to preventing reputational damage from ALPS treated water and providing compensation shall be established at the Head Office, and an officer shall be put in charge of the department.
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