Japanese Media: "Fukushima Contaminated Material Storage Facility Will Be Insufficient in 4 Years"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to a report by Kyodo News on the 15th, the storage site for contaminated materials generated during the purification process of contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan is expected to be full in four years.

The report states that the contaminated materials, which are white or brown sludge-like waste containing radioactive substances, are stored in polyethylene containers with a capacity of 3 cubic meters.

To store the contaminated materials produced during the operation of the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), one new container is needed every two days. As of the 6th of this month, 4,198 out of 4,384 containers are already full, which corresponds to about 96%.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) plans to slow the generation rate of contaminated materials through ALPS improvement work and prepare an additional 336 containers, but it is expected that the storage containers will run out by July 2027.

However, facilities to dehydrate and reduce the volume of contaminated materials are expected to start operation around March 2027, about four years later than originally planned, due to worker safety issues.

Kyodo News reported, "If there is no place to store the contaminated materials, ALPS cannot be operated, and even if the Japanese government and TEPCO start releasing the water around summer, it may become impossible to proceed with the decommissioning work of the nuclear power plant."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.