FAQ
About ALPS treated water, tritium, and monitoring
Tritium is disposed of at nuclear power plants around the world (including Japan) in adherence with clearance levels. Its impact has been monitored, and no issues that can be attributed to tritium have been confirmed. In a report released by the IAEA in April, 2020, the discharge of ALPS-treated water stored at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is acknowledged to be “technically feasible“ and to “allow the timeline objective to be achieved.“ The decision to store the water at the plant to date was made to allow time to fully consider the potential social repercussions and reputational damage that may occur as a result of future actions. Experts in the relevant fields have given careful consideration to the course of action for the treated water, and after 6 years more than 4,000 reports have been compiled, and the decision to discharge the water into the ocean has been reached.
About ALPS treated water, tritium, and monitoring
- QWhat is ALPS-treated water? How is it different to contaminated water?
- QWhy is it necessary to discharge ALPS-treated water? Can't it continue to be stored?
- QIf ALPS-treated water is safe, why is it being stored? Surely it is only being stored because it is unsafe.
- QIs there a chance of ALPS-treated water containing other radioactive substances in addition to tritium?
- QWhat is tritium?
- QIf tritium is a radioactive substance, is it not dangerous?
- QDoes tritium become concentrated in fish? And will eating fish be dangerous?
- QWhat kind of monitoring is implemented when discharging the ALPS treated water into the sea?
- QWhen discharging ALPS treated water into the sea, what will happen if the monitoring of the local sea area indicates that the discharged water hasn't sufficiently dispersed and so on?