TEPCO Ends 2nd Round of FY 2026 Treated Water Release

Tokyo, June 20 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Saturday that it has completed the second round of the fiscal 2026 treated water release into the Pacific Ocean from its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a day later than planned. In the just ended round, about 7,900 tons of water containing small amounts of radioactive tritium was discharged about 1 kilometer off the 2011 meltdown-hit coastal power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, through an undersea tunnel after being diluted with large amounts of seawater. In the fiscal year that began in April, TEPCO plans to release a total of about 62,400 tons of treated water in eight rounds. The latest discharge, which began on June 1, was temporarily halted on June 10 and 13 after alarms indicating abnormalities in the process sounded, causing delays to the schedule. Following the first alarm activation, TEPCO identified a tank outlet valve as the cause and resumed operations the following day after replacing it. The second alarm was believed to have been caused by a drop in pump flow, likely due to a brief power outage, and the discharge was resumed the same day. The Fukushima No. 1 plant suffered a triple meltdown following the massive earthquake and tsunami that mainly struck northeastern Japan in March 2011. The plant started releasing treated water in August 2023 due to the need to secure enough space for decommissioning work at its premises, which are occupied with tanks storing treated water. TEPCO and the Japanese government have been monitoring tritium levels in seawater and fishery products, finding so far that they remain well below government-set safety standards. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]