Japan May Release Fukushima Water Into Ocean as Part of Nuclear Cleanup

Japan May Release Fukushima Water Into Ocean as Part of Nuclear Cleanup
Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is illuminated for decommissioning operation in the dusk in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, in this aerial view photo taken by Kyodo on March 10, 2016. Kyodo/File Photo via Reuters
Isabel van Brugen
Updated:

The Japanese utility giant Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, may release more than a million cubic meters of treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean as part of a decades-long operation.

It’s being considered as part of a $200 billion cleanup process that has been largely delayed by the buildup of contaminated water in tanks that crowd the nuclear site, which was wrecked by a 2011 tsunami that followed a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. The melted cores are kept cool by pumping water into damaged reactor vessels.

Isabel van Brugen
Isabel van Brugen
Reporter
Isabel van Brugen is an award-winning journalist. She holds a master's in newspaper journalism from City, University of London.
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