A government inspection team that visited the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan and inspected the contaminated water facilities announced on the 31st that it had secured raw data to analyze the performance of the ‘Multi-Nuclide Removal System (ALPS)’, a contaminated water treatment facility. The inspection team said, “We confirmed that the major facilities were installed as designed,” and “we also confirmed the means to block the discharge of contaminated water in the event of a problem.” However, regarding the impact of the discharge of contaminated water on the safety of our people, the inspection team postponed the evaluation, saying, “We will conduct a comprehensive evaluation and disclose the results.” As soon as the government confirms the final report on the IAEA’s plan to discharge contaminated water, which is scheduled for June this year, it is expected to make a final conclusion after integrating inspection results.
Yoo Kook-hee, head of the inspection team and chairman of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, held a briefing at the Seoul Government Complex on the 31st and said, “We requested raw data comparing the concentration of contaminated water before and after passing through the ‘ALPS’ facility from Tokyo Electric Power (the operator of the nuclear power plant), and secured it. We are analyzing it,” he said. Prior to this, TEPCO collected contaminated water once a year from 2019 to 2022 and analyzed the concentration of 64 radionuclides. TEPCO separately selected 10 nuclides with high frequency of detection and checked their concentrations once a week. The inspection team said that they were provided with all these data and were analyzing them. Chairman Yoo explained the contents of the on-site inspection conducted by the inspection team in Japan for 6 days and 5 nights from the 21st, and also disclosed a list of 21 members of the inspection team.
The inspection team confirmed that the actual facilities were installed according to the Japanese design plan in all processes, such as treatment, movement, dilution, and discharge of contaminated water. In particular, it was revealed that the installation of the circulation pump in the K4 tank, which contains the contaminated water treated by ALPS, was checked with emphasis.
However, the inspectorate said that further analysis is needed to evaluate the performance of some of the facilities and their long-term operational potential. In the case of a circulation pump that circulates contaminated water, the specifications, installation status, and design drawings were checked, but actual performance was not verified. Regarding when to announce the comprehensive evaluation results at the inspection team level for the Fukushima contaminated water treatment plan, Chairman Yoo said, “It is not possible to prove that the performance is satisfactory even if it is according to the design drawing, so it is necessary to check additional data.” will pay,” he said.
Source: Donga
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