Efforts to contain water contaminated with radioactive substances at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are progressing at a snail’s pace.
At present, dealing with radioactive water is the overriding issue in resolving a series of problems following the nuclear crisis at the power plant. We urge the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., the power plant’s operator, to strengthen their efforts to contain contaminated water.
Contaminated water is increasing by 300 to 400 tons a day, as underground water continues to flow into wrecked reactor buildings and mixes with highly radioactive water used to cool reactor cores.
About 1,000 tanks are being used to store radioactive water on the grounds of the Fukushima power plant. However, the tanks are nearing their capacity of 550,000 tons. TEPCO plans to expand the capacity to more than 800,000 tons by the end of this fiscal year, but the contaminated water is expected to exceed even this amount before long. There is also a greater risk of water leaking as the number of tanks increase.
In May, TEPCO began pumping untainted groundwater from wells near mountains and releasing the water into the sea in what was dubbed the “groundwater bypass program.” But this effort failed to curb the increase of contaminated water as much as expected. The seriousness of the current situation cannot be understated.