Press Releases
Video Conference Briefing Session to Pacific Island Countries (PICs) and Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) on the Current Status of Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) Treated Water at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
On 20 September, 2022, a video conference briefing session to PICs and PIFS was organized on the current status of ALPS treated water at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS). Officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) and staff from TEPCO, on the Japanese side; and officials from the PICs and the PIF secretariat attended the session.
- During the briefing, METI provided an overview of the report on IAEA’s February review of safety aspects of handling of ALPS treated water published by the IAEA in April this year, and TEPCO provided an overview of the application submitted by TEPCO to NRA in April this year for approval to amend the implementation plan to construct the facilities for discharging ALPS treated water at FDNPS (including the revised assessment of Radiological Impact Assessment on humans and the environment and the revision of the application).
- NRA provided an overview of the report on IAEA’s Regulatory Review on handling of ALPS treated water conducted in March, which was published by the IAEA in June this year, and an overview of NRA’s review results document on the application for approval to amend the implementation plan, which was published in July this year. They were followed by a Q&A session among the participants.
- With regard to the IAEA review report of safety related aspects of handling ALPS-treated water at TEPCO’s FDNPS, the Japanese side referred to IAEA’s observation “Japan has made significant progress in its preparations”, and mentioned that further actions would be taken based on the findings and observations made in the IAEA review report. Furthermore, the Japanese side explained that domestic process will continue, including requirement for TEPCO to go through a pre-service inspection by NRA, designed to confirm that the facilities to be installed by TEPCO have been properly installed in accordance with the implementation plan.
- Based on the commitment made at the 9th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM9) in July last year, Japan has been explaining thoroughly the safety of ALPS treated water and the situation of the FDNPS in a transparent manner to PICs and PIFS, and all the related Ministries and Agencies of the Government of Japan will continue such efforts in the future.
ALPS treated water is water which is processed by devices such as ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) to ensure that the concentration of the radioactive materials other than tritium surely meet the regulatory standards for safety. In addition, it is planned that ALPS treated water will then be sufficiently diluted before the discharges into the sea so that radioactive materials including tritium will be far below the regulatory standards for safety.