TOKYO (Reuters) – Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T) (TEPCO) began releasing more treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Thursday morning, continuing a move that has caused tensions between China and Japan.
The release will continue for approximately 17 days starting Thursday, during which about 7,800 cubic meters of wastewater will be released into the Pacific Ocean.
Nuclear authorities, including the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, have said the plan will have little impact on humans and the environment, but it still angers some neighbors, especially China.
The initial water release in late August led to China imposing a sweeping ban on Japanese seafood products and a deluge of harassing calls to businesses and offices, believed to originate in China.
[1/3]An aerial view shows the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which has begun releasing treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, in the town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan on August 24, 2023, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Kyodo/via Reuters/file photo Obtaining licensing rights
Junichi Matsumoto, who oversees TEPCO’s water release, said Wednesday during a news conference that TEPCO received more than 6,000 calls from abroad from Aug. 24 to 27. Many of them appear to have come from China, but TEPCO has not tracked the exact number of such calls.
Japan began releasing water in August in a major step towards decommissioning the Fukushima plant, which suffered a meltdown after being hit by a tsunami in 2011 in the world’s worst nuclear plant disaster since Chernobyl 25 years ago.
Japan says the water is treated to remove most radioactive elements except tritium, a hydrogen isotope that must be diluted because it is difficult to filter.
Matsumoto said tritium levels in the surrounding water since the initial discharge have met pre-established standards, according to tests conducted by Tepco, and no issues related to the first water release were identified.
Reported by Sakura Murakami. Edited by Gerry Doyle
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