The first analyzes of the level of radioactivity in the water of the Japanese nuclear power plant in Fukushima, after the first discharge to the sea, were convincing and within the parameters, announced the operator who carried out the tests.
The level of radioactivity in the collected samples was in line with predictions and below the maximum limit of 1,500 becquerels/liter (Bq/L), a spokesman for the operator that manages the nuclear power plant, TEPCO, said.
The Japanese standard for this type of leakage, inspired by the international standard, is 60,000 Bq/L.
The becquerel is the unit of measurement for radioactivity that was adopted internationally in 1975 at the 15th Conference on Weights and Measures.
The designation of the unit (Bq) is based on the name of the physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903, together with Pierre and Marie Curie, for their research on radioactivity.
Japan on Thursday began discharging water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the Pacific Ocean, “after treatments” that authorities say have removed “most of the radioactive waste”.
This is a process that will take decades, but which has led to strong protests in Japan and in the countries of the region, namely in the People’s Republic of China and the Philippines.
Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the operator of the nuclear plant, decided to start the discharges after stating that the concentration of radioactive waste was “within the established parameters”.
According to the same entity, the water purification process at the plant was subjected to treatment using an ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) circuit.
The first release took place twelve years after the serious accident that hit the Japanese nuclear power plant, following an earthquake and a tsunami in the vicinity of Fukushima.
Source: DN
