[Inspection training] Inspection training held in Fukushima

This year's inspection training was held on December 3rd and 10th.

The destination for this visit was the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and the Decommissioning Archive Center.

The purpose of this tour is to provide an opportunity in 2024, 13 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, to reflect on our own activities in passing on the legacy of the disaster through visits to sites such as Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, where efforts to decommission the plant are still ongoing, and to think about what it is that we want to pass on to future generations.

During this tour, we were accompanied by Mr. Kino from the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Mr. Kino has been working in Tomioka town and on the nuclear plant site since immediately after the earthquake.

We will meet up at a shopping center in Tomioka town and from there we will head on the national highway towards Okuma town.

On the way to the nuclear power plant site, we heard about the scene after the accident, what it was like when people were forced to evacuate, and the current stories of the local residents of Tomioka. After passing through a strict security check at the entrance, we went on a tour of the site.

The vast site, which is the size of 3.5 Tokyo Disney Resorts, stretches across the towns of Futaba and Okuma.

Of the 880 tons of fuel debris remaining inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reactors, only 0.5 grams was removed in a recent operation.

Contaminated water generated by the inflow of groundwater and rainwater is repeatedly purified using the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) until the radioactive materials are below regulatory standards.

The radioactive substance tritium remaining in the ALPS-treated water is also present in natural environments such as rivers and oceans, and is also released from nuclear facilities around the world in accordance with each country's standards.

Although measures were in place to deal with earthquakes, measures against tsunamis were inadequate.

The observation deck in front of the nuclear power plant building that we visited is about 300 meters from the building. Some staff members were surprised that they could view it from that distance without special equipment.

We checked the time while touring areas with high levels of radiation, but masks were optional and we mostly just wore our regular clothes.

With the exception of a few workers, they were all wearing their normal work clothes. Although it has taken some time since the accident, the environment on the premises has been improving little by little.

A common impression shared by the staff after the tour was that it reminded them of the importance of experiencing things on-site.

There were times when the information I had as knowledge was quite different from the actual situation I saw on-site.

We would like to continue thinking about how we can use this experience to pass on our earthquake disaster heritage.