Procedures for Decommissioning and Contaminated Water and Treated Water Management at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi NPS

Efforts to decommission damaged nuclear reactors have been continued at Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)'s Fukushima Daiichi NPS. Since all units achieved cold shutdown condition in December 2011, the units have all remained stable and under control up until now.

Procedures for decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi NPS are unprecedentedly challenging. The Government of Japan takes the initiative to carry out measures stably and steadily in line with the Mid- and Long-term Roadmap towards the Decommissioning of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima Daiichi NPS (Mid- and Long-term Roadmap). Specifically, efforts have been made for the removal of fuel from spent fuel pools, fuel debris removal, measures for contaminated water, disposal of the ALPS treated water, treatment and disposal of waste, and demolition of reactor facilities, etc.

In December 2019, the Mid- and Long-term Roadmap was revised and the method of removing fuel debris for the first unit was finalized. The finalized plan is to commence with trial removal of the fuel debris from Unit 2 first, and then expand the scale of the removal work in stages. For completing the decommissioning by 2041 to 2051, decommissioning procedures will continuously be implemented while placing top priority on ensuring safety.¹

1. Based on the status of the development, etc. of robot arms, which are necessary for trial retrieval of fuel debris, the plan will be reviewed in around the latter half of FY2023.

• Included in this reference material on February 28, 2018
• Updated on March 31, 2023