Safe to discharge? Then can you drink it?
TEPCO Reports Unexpected 80°C Temperature Rise in Reactor 1 TEPCO recently reported that a thermometer in Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 1 recorded an unexpected 80°C temperature increase following nitrogen injection into the primary containment vessel (PCV). Initially, this raised concerns about a possible heat source inside the containment vessel . However, after an internal review, TEPCO concluded…
Steep Decline in Tritium Removal Proposals TEPCO’s latest report on tritium removal technologies for ALPS-treated water highlights a drastic drop in submitted proposals over time. Since the call for technologies began in May 2021, the number of proposals has plummeted: This sharp decline suggests a lack of viable technical solutions or diminishing interest from researchers and industry. Zero Cases…
Debris Weighs Less Than 0.7g, Shows Signs of Uranium and Fission Products Following the trial retrieval of fuel debris from Reactor 2, detailed non-destructive analysis has confirmed the presence of melted nuclear fuel components, including europium (Eu-154) and americium (Am-241). These elements indicate that the sample contains remnants of uranium fuel that underwent nuclear fission before the…
Smaller Debris Sample Than Expected Recent reports reveal that the fuel debris sample retrieved from Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 2 weighed 0.7 grams, significantly less than the initially estimated 3 grams. This marks the first successful removal of core material from the reactor since the 2011 disaster. Analysis confirmed the presence of europium, a component derived from melted nuclear fuel,…
Katsumata’s Legacy as “The Emperor” of TEPCO Tsunehisa Katsumata, former chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), passed away at age 84 on October 21. Known as the “Emperor” within TEPCO due to his powerful influence, Katsumata led the company through significant periods, including the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. However, despite his long-standing authority, he left without…
(Photo released by Tepco on 10/30/2024) Resuming Debris Retrieval Amid Setbacks After over a month’s delay, TEPCO has resumed trial fuel debris retrieval from Reactor 2. The process, intended to begin in August, faced repeated delays due to operational issues and high radiation levels. On October 28, TEPCO successfully reactivated its telescopic retrieval device following previous camera…
Thirteen Years Later, Access Remains Limited Despite ongoing efforts, Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 2 remains largely inaccessible due to severe radiation and equipment malfunctions. The trial fuel debris retrieval has encountered numerous setbacks, further highlighting the complexity of the decommissioning process. Core Removal Delayed by 3 Years Originally planned for 2021, the fuel debris…
On the 4th of April, 2023, Tepco released the reactor 1 investigation report that describes the damage scale inside the base of reactor 1. This investigation was implemented one week before the data release. This research was aimed to complement the previous research carried out last year.The connected data of two investigations from last year and this year revealed the significant parts of the…
On the 5th of June, 2023, Tepco announced they detected 18,000 Bq/Kg of radioactive cesium from Black rockfish collected in the port of the crippled nuclear plant of Fukushima. This is 180 times much as the current food safety standard (100 Bq/Kg). Moreover, the detected 18,000 Bq/Kg of radioactive cesium consists of Cs-134 and Cs-137. The half-life of Cs-134 is up to 2 years, nevertheless this…
Photo: Dead abalone in tritium-contaminated water in Tepco s experimental environment. The brown crack is evident on its shell. (From Tepco s twitter) Since October of 2022, Tepco has been implementing the breeding experiment of marine life in normal seawater and the water contaminated with tritium, which is planned to be discharged to the Pacific. Currently, flounder and abalone are monitored.…