Analysis method for tritium using electrolytic enrichment apparatus (TRIPURER)

On April 13, 2021, the government announced a policy to release the contaminated water which had been stored in the tanks of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant without removing tritium and other treated radionuclides into the ocean over a span of several decades. The planned release will begin from the spring of 2023. The release of the contaminated water into the ocean is a great concern for us, the local residents in Fukushima. We believe we can help dispelling the residents' anxieties by grasping tritium concentrations before the release, setting up a system to understand any changes in concentrations after the release, visualizing and publishing the measurement data. The tritium concentrations in the current environmental water is considered to be about 0.1 to 1 Bq/L. With TARACHINE's regular tritium analysis method so far, the lower detection limit was about 2Bq/L, it was not enough to quantify the tritium concentrations in environmental water. In order to reduce the lower detection limit and visualize the measured values in environmental water, we adopted an electrolytic tritium condensation apparatus 'TRIPURE'. By performing the analysis using the apparatus, the lower detection limit is brought down to 1/10 of the previous value, and we have been able to grasp the current tritium concentrations in environmental water. The data has been collected for us to be able to compare it in future, in case of the release of the contaminated water. We will continue to measure from the citizen's standpoint to protect the environment of our mother ocean. (author)