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Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said Friday no tritium was detectable in seawater samples, a day after the Fukushima nuclear power plant began putting treated water into the ocean. "By quickly sharing the survey result, I hope we will help wipe away people's concerns," TEPCO spokesperson Keisuke Matsuo, said during a press conference.
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But since TEPCO wanted some quick results, the company changed the measurable limit to around 10 Bq per liter as it sampled water within about 1.8 miles of the plant two or three hours after the treated water was released.
TEPCO said more accurate results measured at roughly 0.1 Bq per liter will be released within a month.
Bq is an abbreviation for becquerel, a measurement unit of specific radioactivity concentration.
In a statement on its website detailing the amounts to be discharged, TEPCO said it will gradually release up to 22 trillion becquerels of tritium per year from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station over the next 20 or 30 years.
"The release of tritium in this manner is a globally accepted standard practice for nuclear facilities, and the amount being released at Fukushima is far less than the amount released from many nuclear facilities around the world, including those in Europe, North America, and other parts of Asia," the TEPCO statement said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is posting Fukushima discharge data and said on its website that it will "review and monitor the controlled discharge until the end of the process."
Japan began releasing treated radioactive wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant Thursday.
After the plant's destruction on March 11, 2011, groundwater has been contaminated by coming into contact with the site.
TEPCO has more than 1.3 metric tons of water stored in over a thousand tanks. The discharge is being done because those tanks were nearing capacity as daily accumulation continued.
Japan's Environment Ministry Friday had four ships collecting ocean water samples from 11 locations within about a 25-mile radius of the plant and those sample results are expected to be released in coming days.
China Thursday suspended all seafood exports from Japan in reaction to the Fukushima water discharge.
China's General Administration of Customs said the government made the decision to "comprehensively prevent the risk of radioactive contamination of food safety, protect the health of Chinese consumers, and ensure the safety of imported food."
