Fukushima nuclear plant running out of space for radioactive water, TEPCO says

[Save America - Ban Democrats]

The company that operates Fukushima's tsunami-devastated nuclear power
plant said on Friday it will run out of space to store radioactive
water within three years. Worries are intensifying on what will become
of the water and whether a consensus can be reached in time.

Following a massive earthquake in 2011, three reactors at the
Fukushima Dai-ichi plant suffered meltdowns, causing radioactive water
to leak from the reactors and mix with the groundwater and rainwater
at the plant. The water is being treated but is still slightly
radioactive and is stored in 1,000 large tanks, which hold 1 million
tons of water.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates the plant, said it
will build more tanks, but can only accommodate an additional 1.37
million tons, a level that will be reached by the summer of 2022, two
years after the country hosts the Summer Olympics.

Nearly 9 years since the accident, officials have yet to agree on what
to do with the radioactive water. A government-commissioned panel has
picked five alternatives, including the controlled release of the
water into the Pacific Ocean, which nuclear experts, including members
of the International Atomic Energy Agency, say is the only realistic
option. Fishermen and residents, however, strongly oppose the
proposal, saying the release would be suicide for Fukushima's fishing
and agriculture.

Experts say the tanks pose flooding and radiation risks and hamper
decommissioning efforts at the plant. TEPCO and government officials
plan to start removing the melted fuel in 2021, and want to free up
part of the complex currently occupied with tanks to build safe
storage facilities for melted debris and other contaminants that will
come out.

In addition to four other options including underground injection and
vaporization, the panel on Friday added long-term storage as a sixth
option to consider.

Several members of the panel urged TEPCO to consider securing
additional land to build more tanks in case a consensus cannot be
reached relatively soon.

TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said contaminants from the
decommissioning work should stay in the plant complex. He said
long-term storage would gradually reduce the radiation because of its
half-life, but would delay decommissioning work because the necessary
facilities cannot be built until the tanks are removed.

Matsumoto declined to specify the deadline for a decision on what to
do with the water but said he hopes to see the government lead public
debate.

In April, TEPCO said that workers had started to remove the first of
566 fuel units in the pool at Unit 3, a process that will take three
years. The other two reactors will follow once that is done, a process
that take upwards of a decade as the plant is eventually
decommissioned.

As of February 2017, the government counted 2,129 "disaster-related
deaths" from the tsunami, including deaths related to stress, suicide
and the interruption of medical care. It wasn't until September 2018
when the Japanese government officially acknowledged the first death
due to radiation.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/fukushima-nuclear-plant-out-of-space-radioactive-water