Government resumes 20th discharge of Fukushima contaminated water… momentary power outage was the cause
20th discharge of Fukushima contaminated water interrupted and resumed due to equipment alarm Quickly check TEPCO's reason for restarting and the government's explanation
The government announced that the 20th discharge of treated wastewater from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was temporarily suspended due to an equipment alarm, then resumed that same night.
According to the Office for Government Policy Coordination, TEPCO triggered an alarm at around 5:04 p.m. on the 13th during the wastewater transfer process, automatically halting the discharge. A subsequent equipment inspection confirmed there were no abnormalities. The discharge resumed at 10:34 p.m.
The government explained that the cause of the automatic shutdown was a momentary power outage that caused the flow rate of the seawater transfer pump to drop, activating the emergency shutoff valve. TEPCO has been releasing water treated with ALPS into the sea since August 2023, and even before this suspension, the same 20th discharge had briefly stopped due to an alarm on the 10th before resuming.