Responsibilities in tackling tainted water at Fukushima plant under scrutiny

A special Diet session was convened on Sept. 30 to discuss how to deal with contaminated water accumulating at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, but it remains unclear which party — the government or Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) — should take the lead in tackling the difficult problem.

The special session, convened while the Diet was out of session, focused on the roles to be played by the government and TEPCO in handling radioactively tainted water at the Fukushima nuclear complex, as the government earlier said it would “come to the fore” to deal with the problem. However, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who attended the special session for the first time, reiterated the government’s conventional stance, saying, among other things, that TEPCO should bear “primary responsibility” for the problem.

The level of technical difficulty serving as the basis for the government’s coverage of a project to deal with the contaminated water remained unclear, obscuring where the overall responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear crisis lies.

The government decided last month to use about 47 billion yen to tackle the radioactive water, vowing to finance measures involving technical challenges such as a plan to freeze the soil around reactor buildings to stop groundwater from seeping in and becoming contaminated. Motegi commented during the special Diet session, “We want TEPCO as the key entity which built the reactors itself to fulfill the primary responsibility in executing (the project),” while adding that the government would take responsibility in the removal of radioactive substances in areas requiring high levels of technical ability.

On the various levels of technical difficulty serving as criteria for government action, Motegi said, “If we were to classify one thing or other as difficult, we could say everything is difficult. The current handling of the accident, decommissioning of reactors and taking measures against contaminated water — these are unprecedented tasks, and TEPCO, the installer of the reactors, is carrying them out.” On measures to deal with potential risks involved in the operation, Motegi only said, “We would like to sort out what should be done by TEPCO and the government.”

On a plan to install an impermeable wall to prevent groundwater from seeping into the reactor buildings, Sumio Mabuchi, former assistant to the prime minister from the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, proposed to take an emergency step to install steel sheet piles. In his response, Motegi said, “We want to unwaveringly consider measures including what you proposed.”

Prime Minster Shinzo Abe told an International Olympic Committee general meeting in September that the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was “under control” and that the “influence of the contaminated water is completely blocked within the 0.3-square-kilometer area of the plant’s bay.” On Abe’s remarks, Motegi said, “The prime minister commented responsibly on the current situation. It is precisely under control.” However, Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka stated, “It is difficult to scientifically define whether it is under control or not. We will do our best to prevent it from affecting the environment.”

Motegi ruled out the possibility of liquidating TEPCO, saying, “If the Corporate Reorganization Act is applied, its utility bonds will be prioritized for redemption. There is a possibility that damages as well as receivables held by subcontractors operating on the spot (at the crippled nuclear power plant) will not be paid.”

Mainichi Shimbun, October 1, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131001p2a00m0na016000c.html

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 TEPCO faces high hurdles in controlling contaminated water at Fukushima plant

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) on Sept. 27 resumed testing of an advanced liquid processing system (ALPS) to treat radiation-tainted water at its crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. The government also listed further problems that could occur at the tsunami-hit plant and proposed countermeasures. However, the feasibility of some proposals remains doubtful and government screening of the contaminated water issue has led to suggestions that the problem exceeds TEPCO’s capacity as a single company.

Yoji Ueda, an official in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy who is in charge of measures to counter radioactively contaminated water, has stressed the government will adopt a proactive stance to handling future problems at the plant.

“Up until now, we’ve thought of responses after the problem has appeared. From now on we’ll make preparations,” he said in announcing risks at the plant.

The government’s Committee on Countermeasures for Contaminated Water Treatment has shed light on underlying risks. The total amount of radioactively contaminated water has been increasing as an estimated 400 tons of groundwater flows into the damaged reactor buildings at the plant each day and comes into contact with melted nuclear fuel. The committee pointed out that highly contaminated water from the reactor buildings posed the biggest risk at the plant.

A major issue in this situation is the structure of the current circulating water cooling system designed to cool the nuclear reactor cores. The system’s pipes extend for four kilometers, creating a high risk of them leaking. As a countermeasure, the committee has proposed creating a small circulation loop in which purification equipment is linked directly to the reactor buildings, so that contaminated water can be treated while cooling the reactor cores. It has also proposed waterproofing the buildings.

Additionally, the committee proposes developing technology to remove radioactive materials from the huge amount of seawater in the harbor around the plant, and to store water contaminated with radioactive tritium, which the ALPS cannot process, underground.

However, with the bulk of these measures, officials are merely at the stage of acquiring knowledge from home and abroad, and it is unclear whether the measures can actually be carried out. For example, creating the proposed “small circulation loop” would require work within the reactor buildings, but the extremely high radiation levels within these structures that prevent people from entering them make this a difficult prospect. Furthermore, when waterproofing the buildings, officials would not be able to accurately ascertain which parts have been damaged.

Ueda himself admitted, “These are not things we have actually decided to go ahead with.”

In a committee meeting held behind closed doors on Sept. 27, an official remarked that clear goals needed to be laid out. A reason the committee ending up presenting proposals whose feasibility remains in doubt was that international skepticism had been directed at Japanese technicians following the discovery this summer that contaminated water from the Fukushima plant was leaking into the sea, and officials were desperate to rectify the situation. One official at the committee meeting said, “If we cannot solve the problem, it will be shameful for technicians.”

ALPS, meanwhile, has been held as a trump card in lowering the risk of contaminated water leaking from storage tanks on the grounds of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The government intends to inject about 15 billion yen into building a high-performance ALPS that TEPCO plans to introduce by September 2014.

However, it took about 10 months for construction of the ALPS whose trial operations resumed on Sept. 27 to begin following a technical proposal by its developer, Toshiba. The construction work took another six months, and over a year was spent before tests with ordinary water and contaminated water began. It is unclear whether the high-performance ALPS that TEPCO plans to introduce can be up and running within the proposed time frame.

Plans have also been put forward to create a groundwater bypass system in which groundwater is pumped into the sea before it reaches the reactor buildings, but it is unclear whether residents will support the move.

Mainichi Shimbun, September 28, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130928p2a00m0na006000c.html

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 Ex-PM Koizumi raps gov’t push for nuclear power as ’irresponsible’

NAGOYA (Kyodo) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi criticized the government’s push to restart nuclear power generation and urged it to reconsider.

“It is irresponsible to pursue nuclear power when there is no permanent disposal site for radioactive waste,” Koizumi said at a lecture in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.

The government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has retracted its predecessor’s goal of phasing out nuclear power and opened the way for the restart of idled reactors.

The former prime minister, who appointed Abe as his chief Cabinet secretary, said that during his time as a lower house lawmaker, he believed expert opinion that nuclear energy is environmentally friendly and the cheapest source of power.

Following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and subsequent nuclear crisis, he said, “I started having doubts about whether (nuclear power) is really safe and cheap.”

“Japan can still stand even without nuclear power plants,” Koizumi said, calling on the government and ruling Liberal Democratic Party to take the initiative in pursuing a policy that does not depend on nuclear plants.

Koizumi said that after visiting Germany and seeing the way the country is pursuing renewable energy, he changed his mind and wants Japan to make use of natural energy sources.

Kyodo News, October 2, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131002p2g00m0dm037000c.html

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 Rubber sheet left inside water tank halted TEPCO’s water treatment system

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, disclosed Sept. 29 that a technical problem during test operations of its water treatment system was caused by a rubber sheet left inside a water tank.

According to TEPCO, two rubber sheets — 20 centimeters square and 3 millimeters thick — were taped inside the tank to stabilize a temporary ladder. They were supposed to be removed before the test run on Sept. 27, but workers thought they didn’t need to collect the sheets and left them inside the tank.

TEPCO suspects that one of the two rubber sheets came off and obstructed a drain. The company planned to investigate other tanks to see if any other objects had been left inside them.

The utility’s three-line advanced liquid processing system, known as ALPS, is intended to remove 62 types of radioactive materials from contaminated water. While it is expected to play a crucial role in the utility’s fight against toxic water that continues to accumulate at the crippled nuclear plant, the system has gone through a series of problems.

TEPCO began test operation of ALPS in March, but suspended the system five months later as water was found to be leaking from a tank. The company resumed the test run on Sept. 27, but operation of ALPS had to be stopped 22 1/2 hours later as a result of the technical problem.

TEPCO subsequently announced that it removed the rubber sheets from the tank and restarted the test run at 2:38 a.m. on Sept. 30.

Kyodo News, September 30, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130930p2a00m0na003000c.html

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 430 liters of toxic water leak from Fukushima plant, some into ocean

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday that about 430 liters of highly radioactive water leaked from one of the tanks at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex the previous day, some of which flowed into the Pacific Ocean.

While it was not clear exactly how much contaminated water had leaked into the sea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga maintained the government’s view that the situation is “under control as a whole” during a regular press conference held in the morning.

The leak was observed from the top panel of the 450-ton tank after TEPCO tried to fill it with as much water as possible due to fears the utility may run out of containers for storing the massive amount of radioactive water that is increasing daily at the nuclear complex.

The tank is one of five standing on a slight slope. TEPCO had to take the tilt into account when transferring water, but failed to secure enough space to prevent a spill from the top panel, which is not water-tight, TEPCO spokesman Masayuki Ono told a separate press conference.

Some of the leaked water is believed to have fallen inside a water barrier set up around the five tanks so that contamination will not spread further outside when leaks occur.

But about 430 liters of radioactive water is estimated to have leaked outside the barrier by moving along the foothold attached to the tank and found its way into a nearby side ditch, which is connected to a drainage channel.

The water in the tank contains 580,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances including strontium 90. The legal limit of strontium 90 is 30 Bq per liter.

TEPCO is storing over 300,000 tons of radioactive water in tanks as a result of continuing water injections into the three reactors that suffered meltdowns in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The utility has also recently started storing rainwater that has accumulated inside the water barriers around the tanks if the radiation level exceeds the legal criteria.

TEPCO was transferring water inside the barriers to the tank when the leak occurred Wednesday. It was raining due to a typhoon and TEPCO wanted to avoid having the rainwater flow over the 30-centimeter-high barrier, Ono said.

In August, TEPCO said 300 tons of highly radioactive water escaped from a tank located in a different area at the site, some of which is also believed to have flowed into the ocean. The liquid was tainted with 80 million Bq per liter of radioactive material emitting beta rays.

Kyodo News, October 3, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131003p2g00m0dm039000c.html

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 Liquid processing system at Fukushima Daiichi suspended again

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Kyodo) — Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday the water treatment system at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been suspended again after an alarm was triggered at around 6:40 a.m.

Leakage of contaminated water has not been detected so far, according to the utility.

Following the previous suspension on Sept. 27 due to a problem, TEPCO resumed operation of the advanced liquid processing system, known as ALPS, on Monday after determining that a rubber sheet left in a water tank near the system obstructed the drain outlet and caused the problem.

ALPS is intended to remove most radioactive materials from contaminated water and is expected to play a crucial role in the utility’s fight against the toxic water continuing to accumulate at the crippled nuclear plant.

Kyodo News, October 4, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131004p2g00m0dm043000c.html

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 Regulators order TEPCO to improve radioactive water management

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Nuclear regulators on Friday ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co. to improve its management of a massive amount of radioactive water at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex without hesitating to deploy workers from other power plants.

Summoning TEPCO President Naomi Hirose following recent leaks at the Fukushima plant, Katsuhiko Ikeda, the head of the NRA secretariat, criticized the utility for “rudimentary mistakes” that resulted in the trouble and said its field management ability was “significantly deteriorating.”

“I want you to implement on-site management appropriately even if it requires bringing a workforce from TEPCO’s other power generation plants,” Ikeda told Hirose.

With concerns growing over the situation at the Fukushima plant, Ikeda also urged the utility to report whether it can ensure the safety of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Niigata Prefecture, which the company is seeking to restart.

Hirose said he will “devote all the company’s resources” to managing the toxic water problem. The company will also undergo necessary procedures toward resuming two idled reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, he told reporters.

Ikeda told reporters later that he expects TEPCO to submit a report on how it will deal with the issue in about a week.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, meanwhile, announced that it will send a team of experts on decontaminating areas affected by the nuclear crisis at the request of the Japanese government.

The mission, to take place between Oct. 14 and 21, is a follow-up to a previous mission conducted in October 2011.

The IAEA said that the 16-member team plans to submit a report on the last day of the mission summarizing its findings and advice to the Japanese government.

Kyodo News, October 4, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131004p2g00m0dm071000c.html

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Reactor’s water pump shuts down

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that a cooling pump that injects water into one of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant halted Monday, possibly due to another problem in the power switchboard.

The pump came to a halt at around 9:47 a.m., but the cooling of reactor 1 resumed immediately through a backup pump, Tepco said.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority separately said in a press release that a worker may have mistakenly pushed the stop button on a switchboard during an equipment check.

Kyodo News, October 7, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/10/07/national/reactors-water-pump-shuts-down/#.UlNrBFNjbRY

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 Fukushima No. 1 mishandling may foreclose on Tepco reactor restarts: NRA

Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s apparent inept handling of the triple-meltdown crisis at its Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant may foreclose on its bid to restart two idled reactors in Niigata Prefecture, the head of the Nuclear Regulation Authority indicated Wednesday.

The NRA decided during a meeting of its commissioners the same day that it will start checking whether reactors 6 and 7 at Tepco’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant are safe enough to restart, as sought by the utility.

But NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said at a press conference after the meeting that it wants Tepco to “put its organization together” when unexpected events occur at the Fukushima No. 1 complex as the utility tries to deal with the massive buildup of radioactive water at the site and the scrapping of the crippled reactors.

“It depends on the situation . . . but I want Tepco to do what it should do first, which is to deal with the problems at Fukushima No. 1,” Tanaka said, suggesting the safety assessment of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors could be put on hold because of the serious problems plaguing the Fukushima plant.

Tanaka also said regulators will check whether the utility really has the technical capacity to operate nuclear power plants.

During the meeting of commissioners, NRA member Kayoko Nakamura voiced skepticism over Tepco’s technological knowledge in dealing with radioactive substances and said she was “surprised” that the utility had applied for safety assessments of the two reactors at the seven-reactor Niigata complex.

Tepco applied to the NRA for the safety assessments in late September, joining moves by other utilities toward reactivating idled atomic plants to improve their tough business situation.

All 50 of the nation’s still operable commercial reactors are currently offline. Before any reactor can be restarted, it must first pass new safety requirements introduced in July.

Kyodo News, October 2, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/10/02/national/fukushima-no-1-mishandling-may-foreclose-on-tepco-reactor-restarts-nra/#.UlNZqFNjbRY

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 Tepco finds chinks around two bolts in leaky tank

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday night that it found chinks in a storage tank from which 300 tons of highly radioactive water escaped with barely a trace last month.

It is highly possible the small openings are what caused the massive leak, but more testing of the flange-type storage tank is required to confirm that, said Akira Ono, chief of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, during a news conference at the plant streamed live over the Internet.

The water is thought to have entered the ground or made its way into the sea.

Tepco made the discovery Wednesday by conducting a vacuum test on the bottom of the tank after coating the bolts inside with foam. When the vacuuming caused some of the foam inside to disappear, it revealed chinks around two bolts.

Ono said it is not yet known how the chinks formed because the two bolts are usually not loosened.

“The fact that the bubbles were vacuumed means there are spaces, and it is highly likely that they caused the leakage. But we will eventually need to disassemble the tank and examine it to be thorough,” said Ono.

The tank in question is one of the plant’s 300 or so flange-type tanks, which consists of steel plates bolted together and sealed with waterproof packing at the seams. They are not as sturdy or watertight as welded tanks.

Kazuaki Nagata, Japan Times Staff Writer, September 25, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/25/national/tepco-finds-chinks-around-two-bolts-in-leaky-tank/#.UkjTUX9jbRY

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 Fukushima plant’s undersea radiation-containment curtain ripped

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Damage was found Thursday on one of the undersea curtains installed near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to help contain radiation contamination, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The curtain, called a “silt fence,” is placed around an adjoining pair of water intakes of the plant’s Nos. 5 and 6 reactors, which did not suffer meltdowns during the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

A worker found a cut in the fence at about 10:40 a.m., TEPCO said without elaborating, adding it is studying the damage and its impact. A cut had also been found in April.

As waves are high due to a typhoon moving near the Japanese archipelago, the utility said it plans to repair the barrier after the weather becomes calm.

The silt fence consists of cloth hung from buoys in the sea with weights and is installed around a set of intakes of the Nos. 1 to 4 units, which suffered critical damage during the nuclear crisis, as well as another set of intakes of the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors.

The fence cannot completely block radioactive substances but is seen to be effective in preventing contaminated soil on the seafloor from spreading.

The seawater in front of the Nos. 1 to 4 units is more contaminated than that in front of the Nos. 5 and 6 units. The silt fence for the Nos. 5 and 6 units is intended to prevent the water enclosed there from becoming further contaminated by getting mixed with more toxic water.

The seawater in front of the Nos. 5 and 6 intakes is discharged into the Pacific Ocean after cooling the two reactors, meaning that the water in the area needs to be kept clean as much as possible.

Facing growing concerns over the plant operator’s lax handling of a massive amount of radioactive water at the plant, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that the situation is “under control” and that the influence of toxic water “is completely blocked within the 0.3 square-kilometer area of the plant’s port.”

The silt fences exist inside the port breakwaters.

Kyodo News, September 26, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130926p2g00m0dm100000c.html

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 Tepco raises toxic water estimate to 400 tons a day

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Friday formally revised its groundwater flow simulation and now believes up to 400 tons of contaminated water is seeping into the Pacific every day from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The previous estimate was about 300 tons per day.

According to Tepco President Naomi Hirose, who was invited to appear as an unsworn witness at a special Diet committee session, the utility now believes 800 tons of groundwater are flowing each day into the compound and damaged reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Of that, 400 tons is getting into the underground floors of the four reactor buildings while the other 400 tons is reaching the Pacific, according to a Tepco analysis based on the new simulation.

Hirose stressed that Tepco does not believe all 400 tons of the water entering the sea is contaminated with radioactive materials.

Even so, he said, the company has adopted a conservative scenario assuming that up to 400 tons is contaminated.

In its previous simulation, Tepco estimated that 1,000 tons of groundwater was entering the compound and 300 tons was eventually reaching the sea.

Hirose was speaking at a special session of the Lower House Economy And Industry Committee called to address the water problems at Fukushima No. 1. The committee is planning to meet again Monday.

Hirose repeated his apologies for the recent leaks of toxic water and a number of other troubles at the wrecked power station.

Meanwhile, Sumio Mabuchi, once an advisor to former Prime Minister Naoto Kan of the Democratic Party of Japan, claimed that the DPJ-led administration was considering back in 2011 to build a wall around the damaged reactors to keep groundwater from seeping in.

According to Mabuchi, Tepco persuaded the Kan administration to cancel the announcement of the \100 billion plan because the utility was worried about its financial situation.

Reiji Yoshida, Japan Times Staff Writer, September 27, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/27/national/tepco-raises-toxic-water-estimate-to-400-tons-a-day/#.UkjZ2X9jbRY

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 TEPCO halts test operation of Fukushima water treatment system

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday it has halted trial operation of its water treatment system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station a day after resuming it.

The suspension came as TEPCO at around 10:40 p.m. Friday detected technical problems with line C of the advanced liquid processing system, which resumed the test operation after midnight Thursday and processed about 100 tons of toxic water. TEPCO is investigating the cause.

The three-line ALPS is intended to remove most radioactive materials from contaminated water and is expected to play a crucial role in the utility’s fight against the toxic water continuing to accumulate at the crippled nuclear plant.

While the existing water treatment facility can only remove cesium, ALPS can remove 62 different types of radioactive material with the exception of tritium.

The utility and the government had said ALPS can process water at a faster pace than the rise of contaminated water, allowing it to purify a huge amount of toxic water accumulating at the premises of the power plant. They also planned to expand the system and to develop a high-performance facility in the future.

TEPCO initially started a trial operation with lines A and B in March but halted them in June after corrosion inside line A’s tank was found to be causing water leakage.

As the utility continued with the tank’s repair and investigations into the problem, it sped up renovation of line C, which at the time was waiting to be tested.

Kyodo News, September 28, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130928p2g00m0dm082000c.html

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TEPCO president agrees with Abe that radioactive water is ’blocked’

The president of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), Naomi Hirose, told a Diet panel on Sept. 27 that he shared Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s view that the leaking radioactive water at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is contained within the bay there.

During Tokyo’s final presentation in its bid for the 2020 summer Olympics, Abe said at the International Olympic Committee general assembly meeting in Buenos Aires that the radioactive water situation is under control, with the water completely “blocked” from exiting a 0.3 square kilometer area in the bay.

Hirose said at a session of the House of Representatives Economy, Trade and Industry Committee that he “completely agreed,” and that “from the view of preventing leaking into the outside ocean, I think the situation is firmly under control.” Hirose also apologized for causing concerns due to the leak.

However, on Sept. 13, TEPCO executive-level fellow Kazuhiko Yamashita said, “I don’t believe (the radioactive water situation) is under control,” showing a conflict in opinions coming from the company.

Mainichi Shimbun, September 28, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130928p2a00m0na002000c.html

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