IAEA Director General Joins International Experts Sampling Seawater Near Fukushima
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi today participated in the additional measures to collect seawater samples, together with other international experts from China, the Republic of Korea and Switzerland, near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), as part of continuous efforts to ensure that radioactivity levels remain well below safety levels.
The sampling is being conducted under Additional Measures agreed by the IAEA and Japan in 2024 which aim to broaden international participation and enhance transparency in the IAEA’s sampling and independent analysis in relation to the discharge of Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) treated water. Taking part in the additional measures sampling for the second time, Director General Grossi collected seawater with the international experts.
TEPCO, the plant’s operator, began discharging ALPS treated water from the FDNPS in August 2023. Since then, more than 156,000 cubic metres have been diluted and released in 20 batches. The Agency has confirmed that the tritium levels in the batches released so far were far below Japan’s operational limit. TEPCO intends to discharge the treated water in a series of batches over the coming decades.
“Additional measures enable third parties to independently verify that the water discharge complies, and will continue to comply, fully with international safety standards,” Director General Grossi said. “By welcoming countries to collect and analyse samples directly, Japan is helping to increase transparency, shared understanding and confidence, particularly among its neighbours.”
The samples taken today will be sent for analysis by the IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories in Monaco, laboratories in Japan and the participating laboratories of the Third Institute of Oceanography in China, the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety in the Republic of Korea and the Spiez Laboratory in Switzerland.
The IAEA will continue its impartial, independent and objective safety review of the ALPS treated water discharge, by having a continuous onsite presence, corroborating monitoring data through Interlaboratory Comparisons and providing live online monitoring.
: International Atomic Energy Agency