Landside tritium leakage over through years from Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant and relationship between countermeasures and contaminated water

Abstract

There has been tritium groundwater leakage to the land side of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants since 2013. Groundwater was continuously collected from the end of 2013 to 2019, with an average tritium concentration of approximately 20 Bq/L. Based on tritium data published by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) (17,000 points), the postulated source of the leakage was (1) leaks from a contaminated water tank that occurred from 2013 to 2014, or (2) a leak of tritium that had spread widely over an impermeable layer under the site. Based on our results, sea side and land side tritium leakage monitoring systems should be strengthened.

Levels and behavior of environmental tritium in East Asia

“…Conversely, greater than 1000 Bq L -1 of tritium in surface water was reported near the Wolsong NPPs [98]. After the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPPs, the level of tritium was observed to be 184 Bq L -1 in a small pool 1.5 km distant from the accident site [94]; the level of tritium in the near seawater was also found to be three orders of magnitude greater than its original [99,100]. These results indicate that the surrounding environments were significantly contaminated by tritium released from the HWRs and the accident.…”

Evolutionary analysis of Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge events considering the impact of participants' emotions

“…However, reports still indicate that 73% of nuclear wastewater treated with ALPS still exceeds Japan's discharge standards as of the end of 2019. According to Shozugawa et al (2020) and Zhao et al (2021), some other radioisotopes with longer halflives (e.g., 60 Co, 90 Sr, 106 Ru) also frequently escape from ALPS. Among them, 60 Co can cause cell damage; 90 Sr greatly increases the risk of leukemia in humans; and 106 Ru has a long-term radiation risk to the environment (Khajeh et al, 2017;Khani et al, 2012).…”

“…However, there are still considerable studies in which the radionuclides contained in wastewater will spread to most of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days and to global waters with ocean currents within 10 years. In particular, radioisotopes with long half-lives in wastewater, such as 3 H, 14 C, 106 Ru, 60 Co, and 90 Sr, will continue to pose a potential threat to the environment and public health (Gallardo & Marui, 2016;Iwasa et al, 2020;Okamura et al, 2016;Shozugawa et al, 2020).…”

Evolutionary analysis of Japan’s nuclear wastewater discharge events considering the impact of participants’ emotions

“…However, reports still indicate that 73% of nuclear wastewater treated with ALPS still exceeds Japan's discharge standards as of the end of 2019. According to Shozugawa et al (2020) and Zhao et al (2021), some other radioisotopes with longer half-lives (e.g., 60 Co, 90 Sr, 106 Ru) also frequently escape from ALPS. Among them, 60 Co can cause cell damage; 90 Sr greatly increases the risk of leukemia in humans; and 106 Ru has a long-term radiation risk to the environment (Khani, Pahlavanzadeh, and Alizadeh 2012;Khajeh, Sarafraz-Yazdi, and Moghadam 2017).…”

“…However, there are still considerable studies in which the radionuclides contained in wastewater will spread to most of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days and to global waters with ocean currents within 10 years. In particular, radioisotopes with long half-lives in wastewater, such as 3 H, 14 C, 106 Ru, 60 Co, and 90 Sr, will continue to pose a potential threat to the environment and public health (Okamura et al 2016;Gallardo and Marui 2016;Iwasa et al 2020;Shozugawa et al 2020).…”