March 15, 2024 – 07:35
Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the Fukushima nuclear power plant, announced Friday that it would temporarily suspend the release of cooling water from the facility into the ocean after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake was detected in the area. TEPCO justified this step as a precautionary measure, adding that operations are expected to resume later today.
The earthquake was detected in the coastal area of Fukushima Prefecture at dawn, Japanese time, but no tsunami warning was issued, and TEPCO announced that the earthquake “did not cause any disruption to the facility.” This was later confirmed by the Japanese Nuclear Safety Agency (NRA).
In 2011, a core meltdown occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant due to the earthquake and tsunami, and the reactors were shut down, but still had to be cooled. Since there was nowhere to store the cooling water, it was gradually discharged into the sea 1 km from the coast, cleaned and brought under increasing control over 30 years. According to previous plans, the fourth stage of discharging pure cooling water will end on Sunday. The process, which is expected to last decades, has faced repeated protests from local fishermen and neighboring countries.
