March 16, 2015

TEPCO: Annual radiation dose can be cut

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150316_26.html

Mar. 16, 2015 - Updated 06:31 UTC+1

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it will be able to reduce the annual radiation exposure at the plant compound to below the limit set by Japan's nuclear regulators.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it will be able to cut the figure to less than one millisievert by the end of this month. This will be in line with an order issued by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

The company says a close study of a future plan to deal with tainted water shows that it will be able to reduce radioactive materials in about 80 percent of the water within this month.

About 600,000 tons of highly radioactive water from reactor buildings has been stored in tanks within the plant compound.

Experts say workers would be exposed to about 3.5 millisieverts of radiation from the tainted water in the tanks if they stayed on the compound for a year.

TEPCO has also set a new goal of treating most of the tainted water at least once by end of May. The company had initially set an end-of-March deadline for treating the water.

At the moment, about 7,000 people work at Fukushima Daiichi every day as they prepare to scrap the reactors and deal with radioactive water.

Their work environment is expected to improve if radiation exposure from the tainted water drops. But some radioactive substances will remain in the water even after being treated.