IAEA Experts to Visit Japan for Fukushima Seawater Sampling

Press Release 2014/19

IAEA Experts to Visit Japan for Fukushima Seawater Sampling

5 September 2014 | Two IAEA experts will visit Japan from 8 to 14 September 2014 to collect water samples from the sea near TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, in an exercise to support high-quality gathering and analysis of radioactivity data by the responsible authorities in Japan.
The visit by the experts is the first follow-up activity to the advisory points on marine monitoring included in a report by the IAEA International Peer Review Mission on Mid- and Long-Term Roadmap Towards the Decommissioning of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Units 1-4, which in late 2013 reviewed Japan's efforts to plan and implement the decommissioning of the plant.
Advice from that mission included conducting interlaboratory comparisons in order to foster greater transparency and confidence in the marine monitoring results produced, as well as presenting these results to the public in a scientifically correct but understandable way.
Water samples collected during the forthcoming visit will be shared between the IAEA Environment Laboratories and Japanese laboratories, and analysed independently by each. The results will then be compared to check the quality of the analyses and document the reliability and comparability of data.
The IAEA and Japan are also discussing the details of their cooperation regarding marine monitoring. The IAEA runs similar exercises for analytical laboratories worldwide, to help improve analytical capabilities.
Photos taken during the collection of water samples will be provided by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority.