Managing Groundwater Radioactive Contamination at the Daiichi Nuclear Plant

The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 severely damaged three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, leading to a major release of radiation into the environment. Groundwater flow through these crippled reactors continues to be one of the main causes of contamination and associated transport of radionuclides into the Pacific Ocean. In this context, a number of strategies are being implemented to manage radioactive pollution of the water resources at the nuclear plant site. Along with water treatment and purification, it is critical to restrict the groundwater flow to and from the reactors. Thus, the devised strategies combine walls containment, bores abstraction, infiltration control, and the use of tanks for the temporary storage of contaminated waters. While some of these techniques have been previously applied in other environments, they have never been tested at such a large scale. Therefore, their effectiveness remains to be seen. The present manuscript presents an overview of the methods being currently implemented to manage groundwater contamination and to mitigate the impact of hydrological pathways in the dispersion of radionuclides at Fukushima.