Japan to Release Radioactive Fukushima Water Into Sea
TOKYO (Kyodo News) -- The Japanese government is poised to release treated radioactive water accumulated at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea despite opposition from fishermen, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.
It will hold a meeting of related ministers as early as Tuesday to formally decide on the plan, a major development following over seven years of discussions on how to discharge the water used to cool down melted fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The government has said it cannot continue postponing a decision on the disposal issue, given that the storage capacity of water tanks at the Fukushima complex is expected to run out as early as fall next year.
It asserts that space needs to be secured on the premises, such as for keeping melted fuel debris that will be extracted from the damaged reactors, to move forward with the decades-long process of scrapping the complex.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. says it will take around two years for the discharge to start.
The government had initially hoped to make a decision on the discharge of the treated water in October last year but later decided it would need more time for discussions amid concerns about reputational damage to marine products.
But Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday his government will decide "in a few days” whether to release the water after meeting with Hiroshi Kishi, head of the national federation of fisheries cooperatives, who conveyed his organization’s continued strong opposition to the plan.
On media reports that Japan is poised to discharge the water into the sea, China and South Korea responded by calling on Tokyo to consider it carefully and with transparency.
China urged Japan to make a cautious decision on the matter, saying, "The radioactive material leakage caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan has had a profound impact on the marine environment, food safety and human health.”
The Japanese government should disclose adequate information and "make a careful decision based on full consultation with neighboring countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, "Our government has always emphasized that the Japanese government needs to transparently open up information over how it deals with contaminated water.”
China and South Korea are among 15 countries and regions that continue to restrict imports of Japanese agricultural and fishery products more than 10 years after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, caused by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
It will hold a meeting of related ministers as early as Tuesday to formally decide on the plan, a major development following over seven years of discussions on how to discharge the water used to cool down melted fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The government has said it cannot continue postponing a decision on the disposal issue, given that the storage capacity of water tanks at the Fukushima complex is expected to run out as early as fall next year.
It asserts that space needs to be secured on the premises, such as for keeping melted fuel debris that will be extracted from the damaged reactors, to move forward with the decades-long process of scrapping the complex.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. says it will take around two years for the discharge to start.
The government had initially hoped to make a decision on the discharge of the treated water in October last year but later decided it would need more time for discussions amid concerns about reputational damage to marine products.
But Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday his government will decide "in a few days” whether to release the water after meeting with Hiroshi Kishi, head of the national federation of fisheries cooperatives, who conveyed his organization’s continued strong opposition to the plan.
On media reports that Japan is poised to discharge the water into the sea, China and South Korea responded by calling on Tokyo to consider it carefully and with transparency.
China urged Japan to make a cautious decision on the matter, saying, "The radioactive material leakage caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan has had a profound impact on the marine environment, food safety and human health.”
The Japanese government should disclose adequate information and "make a careful decision based on full consultation with neighboring countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, "Our government has always emphasized that the Japanese government needs to transparently open up information over how it deals with contaminated water.”
China and South Korea are among 15 countries and regions that continue to restrict imports of Japanese agricultural and fishery products more than 10 years after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, caused by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011.