TEPCO says tanks for nuclear wastewater at Fukushima plant won't be full until Feb.

TOKYO, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said its tanks for storing nuclear wastewater won't become full until next February or later, local media reported Thursday.

The utility had earlier expected the tanks to be filled to capacity around this summer or fall, but TEPCO officials said they now estimate the tanks will become full sometime between next February and June, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The plant's operator also said there will be no change in its plan to start releasing nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean by around this summer, it added.

After being hit by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, the facility in northeastern Japan experienced an unusual triple meltdown and has been generating a massive amount of water tainted with radioactive substances from cooling down the nuclear fuel in the reactor buildings.

Ignoring opposition both at home and abroad, the Japanese government in January announced its controversial plan to release radioactive wastewater from the wrecked plant into the Pacific Ocean will start to be carried out "in the spring or summer."