TEPCO Awaiting Regulatory Approval on Water Contamination Systems

The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced yesterday that two key systems to water management at the site are ready for regulatory and stakeholder approval. The two systems, a seaside impermeable wall and a subdrain system, will help cut the amount of contaminated water by 200 tons a day while also controlling the amount of contamination released from the site. The seaside wall aims to prevent groundwater from flowing into the sea by constructing a steel pipe sheet pile wall on the east side of the site. The subdrain system will capture underground water and pump the water for treatment. Both systems are part of TEPCO’s three large water management strategies: Contaminant removal, contaminant isolation, and leakage prevention. “These two systems are important components of our larger strategy to improve water management at Fukushima,” said Naohiro Masuda, TEPCO’s Chief Decommissioning Officer. “Along with the other multi-layered measures which includes sophisticated water treatment systems (Contaminant removal), groundwater bypass system and development of the ‘ice wall’ around the perimeter of the four reactor units (Contaminant isolation), I believe the two systems will contribute to further improving water management at the site.”