Japan on Tuesday confirmed it will release nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean in a few days amid neighboring countries’ concerns.
“We expect the discharge to begin on Aug. 24 if weather and sea conditions do not hinder it,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tokyo, asking the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, to make preparations.
After a two-year review of Japan’s plan, the IAEA said that it “concluded that the approach and activities to the discharge of ALPS treated water taken by Japan are consistent with relevant international safety standards.” It is referring to a pumping and filtration system known as the advanced liquid processing system, which uses a series of chemical reactions to remove dozens of radionuclides from radioactive water.
“Furthermore, the IAEA notes the controlled, gradual discharges of the treated water to the sea, as currently planned and assessed by TEPCO, would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment,” said the IAEA in a statement.
The water will initially be released in smaller portions and with extra checks, with the first discharge totaling 7,800 cubic meters over about 17 days starting Thursday, TEPCO has said. That water will contain about 190 becquerels of tritium per liter, below the World Health Organization drinking water limit of 10,000 becquerels per liter, according to TEPCO. A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity.
“The government is committed to taking full responsibility until the disposal of the treated water is completed, even if it takes decades to complete,” Mr. Kishida said Tuesday.
South Korea said in a statement released Tuesday that it sees no problem with the scientific or technical aspects of the plan, but did not necessarily agree with or support it. But Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee called the discharge “irresponsible” and asserted the city would “immediately activate” import controls on Japanese seafood from regions including the capital Tokyo and Fukushima, starting on Thursday.
The Pacific Islands Forum, an organization that includes Fiji, Australia, and Papua New Guinea, criticized the plan. Earlier this year, the group called on Japan to halt release of the water until more research is carried out.
Despite the unease abroad, Mr. Kishida said he believed an “accurate understanding” of the matter was spreading in the international community, adding that officials have said it will remove most radioactive elements from the water except for tritium, a hydrogen isotope that must be diluted because it is difficult to filter.
A Japanese official said the first test results of the seawater after the discharge may be available at the start of September. Japan will also test fish in the waters near the plant, and make the test results available on the agriculture ministry’s website.
The government and TEPCO have long said the water must be released to allow for the Fukushima plant’s decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks from the tanks that contain the water.
Mr. Matsumoto told the AP he has struggled to manage the massive amounts of contaminated water in about 1,000 tanks, saying that some plant workers have been forced to release water in certain instances.
“In order to steadily advance decommissioning, the ever-growing amounts of water was a pressing issue that we could not put off, and we had a sense of crisis,” said Mr. Matsumoto. “We still have to tackle far more challenging and higher-risk operations such as removal of melted debris and spent fuel” from the damaged reactors, he said.
