The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (north-eastern Japan) announced this Friday that it had suspended "as a precaution" its process of discharging treated water from the site into the sea, after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake which struck nearby.
This process should resume later this Friday, a spokesperson for Tepco, the operator of the plant, then told AFP.
The country's Meteorological Agency did not issue a tsunami warning in its bulletin published shortly after the tremors.
On February 28, Tepco began a new operation to discharge into the Pacific Ocean water stored on the plant site, previously treated to eliminate most of its radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, which is not dangerous only in high concentrated doses.
This fourth phase of discharge at sea since the summer of 2023 was to end this Sunday, according to the initial schedule.
“No anomalies”, according to the operator
After the earthquake that occurred on Friday at 12:14 a.m. Japanese time (Thursday 3:14 p.m. GMT) off the coast of the Fukushima department, which did not cause a tsunami, "we were able to confirm remotely that there was no “anomalies” on the installations for diluting tritiated water and discharging it into the ocean, Tepco said on the social network X.
But “as a precaution, we have suspended operations of these facilities, in accordance with predefined operational protocols,” Tepco added.
The operator announced a few hours later in a press release that “no anomaly” had been detected.
No radiation leaks were detected after Tepco completed the necessary checks, while "monitoring station readings remain normal", he added.
Around 2:30 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. French time), the operator confirmed the absence of “anomalies”.
“There is no water leak, no external nuclear radiation,” he adds on his X account.
At the Fukushima Daini NPS, we have completed the field patrol inspections, and confirmed that there are no abnormalities.
There is no water leakage from the spent fuel pools and no external radiation impact.
— TEPCO (@TEPCO_English) March 15, 2024
Shortly after the earthquake, the Japanese Nuclear Safety Authority (NRA) also indicated on its website that no anomaly had been identified at the nuclear installations in Fukushima.
China opposed to rejection
Located on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, the Fukushima Daiichi power plant was devastated in 2011 by a gigantic tsunami caused by a 9.0 magnitude underwater earthquake off the coast of Fukushima.
Japan, located on the borders of tectonic plates, regularly experiences earthquakes, the last of which on January 1, 2024 caused the death of dozens of people.
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This power plant is now being dismantled, a colossal and extremely complex project which is expected to last several decades.
Beijing in particular has strongly criticized the discharge of treated water from the plant into the sea, although this process has been validated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
China responded by suspending all imports of Japanese seafood since last summer, and was followed by Russia a few months later.