Local broadcaster NHK reported today that seawater had been injected into an undersea tunnel used to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan.
Yesterday TEPCO started pouring around 6,000 tonnes of seawater into the tunnel from land and sea, and finished it this morning.
Tunnel construction is complete when the excavation equipment used for tunnel construction is recovered.
Previously, TEPCO completed the excavation of a 1,030m long undersea tunnel on April 25, and the contaminated water is discharged into the sea in front of the nuclear power plant through the undersea tunnel.
TEPCO plans to complete all construction for the discharge of marine contaminated water by the end of this month after completing some of the water tank construction, which is the stage just before sending contaminated water into the undersea tunnel.
The Japanese government plans to start dumping contaminated water into the ocean this summer.
The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectorate visited Japan last week to complete a comprehensive verification process and plans to release the final report sometime this month before Japan releases the contaminated water.
