In the week following the secondary ocean discharge of radioactive토토사이트 contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the concentration of tritium near the discharge outlet was found to exceed the detection limit four times. This is an unusual phenomenon compared to the previous trend, which exceeded the detection limit only once in about a month after the first discharge, raising concerns that tritium may be routinely detected in nearby seas due to the discharge of contaminated water. According to the preliminary tritium concentration analysis data released by Tokyo Electric Power Company on the 15th, the nearest monitoring point, ‘ T-0-1A’, which
is about 200m away from the discharge outlet, was exposed for about a week from the 7th to the 14th after the secondary discharge. It was found that the tritium concentration exceeded the detection limit four times. The detection limit refers to the minimum value that can be detected by measuring equipment, and is slightly different at each measurement point. When the amount of tritium released is below the detection limit, the exact amount cannot be measured. If the detection limit is not exceeded, it is judged that tritium has not actually been detected in the sea, and if it is exceeded, it is considered to have been detected. According to data, at point T-0-1A , the tritium concentration was observed to be 9.4 becquerel (㏃) per liter on the 8th, three days after the second discharge, exceeding the detection limit, reaching 11㏃ on the 10th and 14㏃ on the 13th. It got higher. Tokyo Electric Power Company has not yet announced specific figures, but looking at the graph, it is estimated that it exceeded 10 ㏃ on the 14th. The tritium concentration at other points was within the detection limit. This phenomenon is unusual considering that during the first ocean discharge that began on August 24th, there were very few cases of exceeding the detection limit based on the preliminary value. Before the second discharge, the detection limit was exceeded once (10 ㏃) on September 1st. Including this record, tritium has been detected in the sea a total of five times to this day. This is different from some expectations that the tritium concentration at a specific point will not continue to increase because contaminated water spreads through ocean currents even if it is discharged. However, Tokyo Electric Power Company explained, “The ocean currents in the relevant sea area may change periodically, and the values may fluctuate accordingly.” In addition, even if tritium was detected, it was far below the 700 ㏃ per liter standard for determining outliers, so it was stated that there was no problem with safety. However, if this phenomenon becomes frequent in the sea, where tritium was not detected before the discharge of contaminated water, it is expected to cause anxiety to nearby fishermen and citizens of neighboring countries. Tritium can have harmful effects on living organisms with continued exposure. Despite these changes in tritium, Park Gu-yeon, First Deputy Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, conveyed the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) judgment in a daily briefing on the discharge of contaminated water on the 16th that “there is nothing unusual about the secondary discharge.” Regarding the tritium concentration, they stated, “There is no problem as it is lower than the standard for judging outliers.” This is a looser explanation than Tokyo Electric Power Company’s briefing, which analyzes the cause and reveals whether the detection limit has been exceeded. Meanwhile, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company, a decrease in the pressure of the transfer pump used for ocean discharge was observed on the 6th, immediately after the second discharge of contaminated water. Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that it believed that the problem was caused by foreign substances stuck in the metal filter in the pump and took steps to clean the filter. It was also added that this problem would not affect the discharge schedule.