Collection of Marine Samples as part of Joint Project with IAEA

　At the request of the Government of Japan (GOJ), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has organized Interlaboratory Comparisons (ILCs) * since 2014 to assist the GOJ in ensuring that the results of Sea Area Monitoring in Japan are credible and transparent. In these ILCs, marine samples in the vicinity of the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) are collected jointly with the IAEA and GOJ, and the IAEA and Japanese analytical laboratories analyze the samples individually, and the IAEA intercompares and evaluates the analytical results. This mission is part of the project which was initiated following recommendations made on Sea Area Monitoring in the report by the IAEA in FY2013 related to the decommissioning of FDNPS.

　The IAEA has been conducting a separate ILC since 2022 to corroborate the results of Sea Area Monitoring in Japan as part of the handling of ALPS treated water at TEPCO’s FDNPS (Signing of a Terms of Reference (TOR) **with IAEA) ***.

　In addition to experts from IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories, experts from laboratories in China, Republic of Korea and Switzerland that are members of the IAEA ALMERA¹  network, will visit Japan from October 7 to 15 this year to observe sample collection and pretreatment activities for the purpose of further transparency of the project.

　¹  The ALMERA network (Analytical Laboratories for the Measurement of Environmental Radioactivity) was established by the IAEA in 1995 and is a world-wide cooperative effort of analytical laboratories.

　IAEA media advisory will be uploaded as follows:
   URL: https://www.iaea.org/press

　* Marine Monitoring: Confidence Building and Data Quality Assurance
https://www.iaea.org/about/organizational-structure/department-of-nuclear-sciences-and-applications/division-of-iaea-marine-environment-laboratories/marine-monitoring-confidence-building-and-data-quality-assurance
　** The handling of ALPS treated water at TEPCO’s FDNPS (Signing of a Terms of Reference (TOR) with IAEA)
https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/press6e_000310.html
　*** The report of the 2022 ILC is available in the IAEA website.
https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/1st_ilc_marine_monitoring.pdf

-　October 7-11, 2024: Collection of samples and pre-treatment of marine biota and fishery products
-　October 15 2024: Pre-treatment of sediment samples