Fukushima Daiichi NPS Prompt Report 2014

*Note: As of August 1 2014, we have made the following correction on our homepage.
[Original] all the water stored at Fukushima Daiichi till it reaches a much safer level by the end of FY 2016
[Revised] all the water stored at Fukushima Daiichi till it reaches a much safer level by the end of FY 2014

FUKUSHIMA, Japan, June 26, 2014- The advanced water treatment system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, known as "ALPS" (for Advanced Liquid Processing System), is now fully back online after the successful repair and upgrading of its three units, part of a major initiative to expand and upgrade water treatment at the site, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced.

The system, which consists of domestic and oversea technologies, was first installed at Fukushima Daiichi in October 2012, and is designed to remove most remaining radioactive contaminants ("nuclides") in water that has had to be stored at the facility. The system, the first of its type in the world on such a large scale (full capacity reaches up to 750 tons per day), has processed a total of 86,000 tons of water since its installation, but had recently required the replacement and upgrading of various parts such as filter gaskets that had been degraded by exposure to radiation during the processing.

On May 23 Unit B was the first to be restarted after the upgrades, followed by Unit A on June 9 and now Unit C on June 22. Efforts to develop the system will be continued, with further system improvements such as increasing radionuclide removal levels planned in the near future.

The successful restart represents an important step within the larger program to dramatically expand the water treatment capacity through the installation of two more similar facilities. Those new facilities will benefit from the experience with the existing ALPS system, and are being designed with more rugged, higher adsorption and waste management capabilities.

Former U.S. nuclear official Lake Barrett, who oversaw the Three Mile Island cleanup in Pennsylvania after the 1979 accident there and who is now a senior advisor to TEPCO, said: ""Improving the existing ALPS systems and the addition of the new supplemental processing systems are very positive steps toward complete control of the contaminated water situation at Fukushima."

In addition to the three ALPS systems, there are two other TEPCO initiatives to reduce Strontium levels in water at the plant: One, manufactured by the U.S. company Kurion, will have the ability to remove Strontium from contaminated water that is currently being stored in tanks. The other, manufactured by Toshiba, would upgrade the existing SARRY system also to incorporate the ability to remove Strontium before processed water is added to the storage tanks. Their activation this year is expected to treat all the water stored at Fukushima Daiichi till it reaches a much safer level by the end of ^*FY 2014.

To learn more about these "multi-nuclide removal" facilities, go to
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/roadmap/images/m120227_03-e.pdf

About TEPCO
Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. (TEPCO) is Japan's largest power company, supplying energy to the greater Kanto area, including Japan's two most populous cities, Tokyo and Yokohama. Its 35,000 employees are committed to providing safe, reliable power to its 28.8 million customers, diversifying energy resources to ensure sustainability, and contributing to economic growth while fully meeting its responsibilities after the Fukushima Daiichi accident.