Fukushima Nuclear Plant Resumes Water Discharge 5 Hours After Brief Halt

The 20th release of treated radioactive water from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was temporarily suspended but has since resumed after a five-hour interruption. The discharge was halted due to a momentary power outage that affected a seawater pump, triggering an automatic safety stop.

According to government officials, the incident occurred on June 13 around 10:34 PM JST. The power outage led to a drop in flow rate for the seawater transfer pump, activating an emergency shut-off valve. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant operator, conducted equipment inspections and confirmed that there were no abnormalities. Following these checks, the discharge process was restarted.

This is not the first interruption in the ongoing 20th release of contaminated water. TEPCO had previously paused the discharge on June 10 around 4:17 PM JST due to an alarm related to the transfer process between a contaminated water tank and the pump. The discharge was resumed on June 11 after a valve replacement. The current 20th release began on June 1, with TEPCO planning to discharge a total of approximately 7,800 tons of treated water by June 19.

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The discharge was stopped for five hours due to a momentary power outage... Equipment inspection confirmed no abnormalities.