The Japanese government has decided to dump more than 1 million tonnes of polluted water into the sea from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said, which is expected to provoke angry reactions from countries in the South. .
The decision defies reactions abroad and at home, especially on the part of Fukushima fisheries workers, who oppose the idea from the outset.
The decision announced by Mr. Suga puts an end to the dialogue that has been going on for the last seven years on how the authorities would treat polluted water from rain, groundwater and the necessary injections to cool the reactor cores in melting after the March 11, 2011 tsunami.
The process of discharging water into the sea will begin in about two years and is expected to take decades, the Japanese government said.
The water should be treated to remove harmful isotopes and diluted so that international standards are not violated before being dumped into the sea, she assured.
The decision was announced about three months before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, a year after it was postponed. Part of the event will be held at facilities not more than 60 kilometers from the damaged Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) power plant.
Japan’s decision “extremely irresponsible” for China
China’s foreign ministry has sharply criticized the Japanese government’s decision earlier today to phase out contaminated water from a damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant after it has been treated, calling it “extremely irresponsible.”
The measure “is highly irresponsible and will blatantly harm public health and safety at the international level and vital interests of neighboring countries,” a Chinese diplomat said in a press release posted on the foreign ministry’s website. He added that Tokyo should refrain from dumping contaminated water into the sea until it has secured the consent of all other countries with a legitimate interest and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
China reserves the right to react further to Tokyo’s decision to dump contaminated water into the sea, the spokesman said.
The issue of contaminated water at the nuclear power plant is one of the most thorny for the Japanese government, which is in the process of decommissioning the Fukushima plant.
