Previously contaminated water treated at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been completely transferred to new welded tanks from the previous flange type, which had a high risk of leaking, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. has announced.
TEPCO has thereby met the government's deadline in its road map for decommissioning that requires the transfer to welded-type tanks within fiscal 2018. There are about 1 million tons of treated water.
"We can now conduct more stable management," a TEPCO official said.
The previous flange-type tanks have steel plates held together with bolts and other equipment, and were used because they could be constructed quickly.
After the nuclear accident in 2011, more than 300 such tanks were hurriedly built to store contaminated water. However, a number of problems occurred, including the leaking of about 300 tons of contaminated water in August 2013.
TEPCO has therefore replaced the old tanks with welded ones. Some flange tanks will be kept to temporarily store groundwater and other fluids in the future.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
