[Skybird]

And from the - far left-leaning - Süddeutsche Zeitung:


https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/...hima-1.5263211

In an intact nuclear power plant, the cooling water runs in a closed circuit. Put simply, its heat is used to generate steam, which drives the turbines to generate electricity. But in Fukushima Daiichi the reactor pressure vessels in units one, two and three are broken. There is no longer a cycle. After coming into contact with the highly radioactive scrap from the reactors, the water runs through various leaks into the basement of the reactor building and the adjacent machine houses.

This contaminated water has to go somewhere. It is pumped out and some of it is used again for cooling. The rest has to be stored: up to 60,000 cubic meters of water are added every year. Some of this water can be purified, including with the ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) system. 62 different radionuclides - types of atoms that are radioactive due to their unstable nucleus - can be extracted from the water by this system. Only tritium cannot be extracted from the water on a large industrial scale.

But tritium is such a low-emitting radionuclide that experts do not find it to be a cause for concern. According to information from the Japanese government, 30 percent of the cooling water stored in Fukushima Daiichi is treated in such a way that it falls below the limit values ​​for all nuclides except for tritium. The Japanese only want to channel this water into the water.

The International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA is accompanying the process. Its general director Rafael Grossi says: The solution with cooling water in the sea is not new. "There is no scandal here." The US government praised Japan for "weighing options and effects" and "appears to have taken an approach in line with globally recognized nuclear safety standards".