Image: APA/AFP/JIJI PRESS/STR
Based on the final report approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the government will explain the plan to local communities and neighboring countries, Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Wednesday. The day before, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi gave Japan the green light for the planned disposal of huge amounts of filtered cooling water in the sea. Japan’s plan meets international safety standards, the final review report said.
Fishing cooperatives in the three neighboring prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate announced that they would send a petition to the central government and the operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant this week, in which the fishermen would speak out against the planned dumping of the cooling water. “I am extremely concerned as I don’t know how the release of the treated water will affect my work and livelihood,” the Japanese news agency Kyodo quoted one of the concerned fishermen in Fukushima as saying. He and his colleagues fear reputational damage and loss of sales.
Concern and rejection also abroad
Japan’s plans are also met with concern and rejection in neighboring countries such as China. The government in South Korea has so far emphasized that it wants to stick to the import ban on fishery products from Fukushima and the surrounding area as long as concerns about the planned disposal of the cooling water have not been dispelled. IAEA chief Grossi travels to Seoul on Friday.
In 2011, an earthquake and tsunami caused a core meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The destroyed reactors still have to be cooled with water, which is stored in huge tanks. But according to the operator group Tepco, there is now no space for that. The water is therefore to be filtered through a tunnel built about one kilometer into the sea and disposed of diluted. However, the ALPS technical system cannot filter out the tritium isotope. According to Tepco and the IAEA, there is still no danger, since tritium is harmless in small quantities.
Source: Nachrichten
