Japan to Dump Fukushima's Low Radioactive Water Into Ocean, Reports Suggest

TOKYO (Sputnik) - The Japanese government is planning to release low radioactive water from the Fukushima I nuclear power plant into the ocean, the newspaper Mainichi reported on Friday, citing its sources in the government.

Japan's government had earlier considered two options – to dump the water into the ocean or evaporate it into the atmosphere. The former was considered to be the most adequate. Under this option, the radioactive water will be filtrated by an ALPS filtering system that reduces the concentration of radioactive material, except for tritium, to a normal level.

In this Oct. 12, 2017, photo, ever-growing amount of contaminated, treated but still slightly radioactive, water at the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is stored in about 900 huge tanks, including those seen in this photo taken during a plant tour at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo

© AP Photo / Pablo M. Diez/Pool

However, Japan will need extra equipment to implement this plan and the preparations will take about 2 years. The other risk that Tokyo may face is a fall in consumer confidence in its fish products.

The radioactive water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant resulted from the Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The contaminated water is stored in special tanks with limited volume. The level of radioactive water continues to rise and the Japanese authorities have been looking for a solution to this problem for several years.