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| Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Jan. 8, 2021, shows tanks storing treated radioactive water on the premises of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled in the March 2011 huge earthquake and tsunami. (File photo by=Kyodo) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] The Japanese government plan on Tuesday to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, having determined it poses no safety concerns despite opposition from local fishermen and neighboring countries.
The water will be significantly diluted and released in small amounts, with the step-by-step operation set to start in about two years to allow the utility, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., time to set up facilities and receive approval from nuclear regulators. The decision ends years of discussions on how to dispose of more than 1 million tons of the treated water, which has accumulated at the complex after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a triple meltdown in March 2011.
The water is kept in tanks on the plant's premises, and there were about 1.25 million tons in total as of March. TEPCO expects to run out of storage capacity as early as fall next year, and the government has been considering ways to dispose of the water. Meanwhile, the government's plan calls for TEPCO to pay compensation to local fishermen who suffer reputational damage, though it doesn’t detail how that determination will be made. China, Taiwan, and South Korea are among 15 countries and regions that continue to restrict imports of Japanese agricultural and fishery products following the Fukushima disaster.
