Fukushima groundwater pumping begins

Pumping of groundwater at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has begun. Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) announced today (Wednesday April 9th) that groundwater pumping has begun in order to capture the water before it enters the nuclear power plant and becomes highly contaminated.

The No.1 nuclear power station in Fukushima was damaged during the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, causing three reactors to suffer meltdowns. Although the decommissioning of the plant has begun, Tepco has had problems with groundwater becoming contaminated after entering the reactors. Around 400 tonnes of groundwater is entering the reactors everyday, increasing the amount of highly radioactive water that is present on the site.

In a bid to reduce the amount of water that is being contaminated, pumping has begun in order to drain the groundwater from the area before it enters the reactors. The pumping will take place at wells from around the site, with the water being stored in tanks. All water will then be checked to ascertain its level of contamination, a process that is expected to take around a month. Once the contamination levels are confirmed to be low, the water will be released into the Pacific Ocean. 

This new bypass system could help to slow the accumulation of highly radioactive water at the site. Currently radioactive groundwater is stored in tanks throughout the site, which has caused a number of problems due to leaks. As well as cutting down on the amount of water that needs to be stored at the site, Tepco is aiming to work towards limiting total contamination. The company said that the water leaking into the reactors could be reduced by up to 100 tonnes.

Following talks with those in the local area, fishermen have agreed to the water being dumped into the ocean so long as it passes strict testing and is proven to be safe. However, it is thought that the extent of the groundwater leaks at the site means that contaminated water is seeping into the Pacific Ocean everyday. The latest plan could also help to reduce this.