Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Monday asked regulators for permission to build a facility to dump radiation-tainted groundwater from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant into the sea after filtration, sources said.
Tepco filed the application with the Secretariat of the Nuclear Regulation Authority after briefing local officials on the plan. It wants to start pumping the filtered groundwater on a trial basis.
Tepco plans to lay pipes at the crippled power plant to direct the water to the compound's seaport. Even after nearly all the radioactive contaminants have been removed, the water won't be dumped into the Pacific until consent has been obtained from local authorities, the utility said.