Liquid Radionuclide Waste Treatment at Fukushima Daiichi NPP Site: A Brief Review of Environmental Impacts

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) suffered a severe accident in March 2011, resulting in large amounts of radioactive water accumulated at the NPP site. This water has been treated by a combination of various technologies with Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) to remove multiple radionuclides except for tritium, which is difficult to separate from the water molecule, and stored in above ground water tanks at the NPP site. The limited storage capacity prompted the Government of Japan to approve the ALPS treated water discharge into the ocean after dilution of tritium below 1,500 Bq/L. This article reviews the main challenges, technologies, and environmental impacts of the liquid waste at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP site, covering the following topics: 1) Measures to reduce groundwater flows from the NPP site to the marine environment; 2) Modeling of the groundwater fluxes from the NPP site to the marine environment; 3) Technologies of the liquid waste treatment and storage at the NPP site; 4) Technologies of the tritiated water releases to the marine environment from the NPP site; and 5) Modeling of the dispersion of radionuclides released from the NPP site to marine environment.