Press Releases

1. This approval was granted pursuant to the Reactor Regulation Act (the Act on the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, Nuclear Fuel Material and Nuclear Reactors). Upon the approval, the results of the examination based on the Reactor Regulation Act as well as the review in light of the Government of Japan’s Basic Policy, which was made public in April 2021, are published.
2. By this approval, safety of the installation of ALPS treated water discharge facility has been confirmed. Nevertheless, this does not mean that TEPCO can immediately start the discharge of the ALPS treated water into the sea. Before doing so, remaining processes, such as NRA’s Pre-Service Inspections to check and confirm the installation status of the discharge facilities, will continue. The discharge of the ALPS treated water into the sea will not start until after these steps are duly taken. The IAEA will continue to conduct its independent review throughout, including while these steps are taken, and the Government of Japan will carefully consider the findings and observations from the IAEA’s review.
3. The Government of Japan will continue to ensure safety of the ALPS treated water as well as reliability and transparency of its handling. It also remains committed to making efforts to promote the understanding regarding the handling of ALPS treated water in the international community.

[Reference] ALPS treated water is water which is processed by devices such as ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) to ensure that 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 so that all radioactive materials including tritium will be far below the regulatory standards for safety.