IAEA chief Rafael Grossi presented a review of Tokyo's plans to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. The report concluded that the plan meets international safety standards.
The UN's atomic energy agency has given its approval for Japan's plan to release contaminated water from the Fukushima power plantImage: Masanori Genko/AP/picture alliance
Neighboring countries have raised concerns over the contentious plan, with Beijing being its most vocal critic. Local fishing unions have also voiced their opposition to the project.
What the IAEA said about the Fukushima water release plan
IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi, who reached Japan on Tuesday for a four-day trip, met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to submit the nuclear watchdog's final report on the water release.
At a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi earlier on Tuesday, Grossi said that the report marks "an important chapter" in the IAEA's work over the past two years.
The IAEA said in its report the plan was consistent with international safety standards and would have a "negligible radiological impact to people and the environment."
The report follows two years of work by agency specialists who reviewed the plan.
"This is a very special night today," Grossi told Kishida before handing him the agency's final report on the plan.
The IAEA chief said that the agency would remain involved in the process before, during, and after the water releases.
During the meeting with Grossi, Kishida said that Tokyo would continue explaining the safety of the plan to both the Japanese people and the international community.
The project still requires final approval from Japanese nuclear regulator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco). A date for the start of the implementation of the plan has not been announced.
What is Japan planning to do with the Fukushima water?
The Fukushima plant meltdown in 2011 — triggered by a devastating earthquake and tsunami — left Japan to have to deal with the water used to cool the pant's fuel rods.
Since then, authorities have been treating the contaminated water which is being stored in almost 1,000 tanks.
But the storage is about to reach its capacity of 1.37 million tons — enough to fill 500 Olympic size swimming pools.
The water must be removed to make way for the plant's decommissioning and to prevent any accidental leaks.
As part of its plan, Japan intends to dilute the treated water and release it over 30 to 40 years with the help of a pipe extending around 1 km (0.6 miles) from the east coast where the Fukushima nuclear plant is located.
Advertisement
How have Japan's neighbors responded?
Neighboring countries have expressed concern over the years about the risk to marine life and public health. China has been the staunchest critic of the water release plan.
On Tuesday, Beijing said through its embassy in Japan said the IAEA's report cannot be a "pass" for the water release and urged the plan's suspension.
Some fishing unions in Fukushima have also opposed the government's plan, fearing that customers will steer clear of their catches despite strict testing norms for the food from the region.
Several countries had banned some food products from Japan after the 2011 catastrophe. South Korea said it would continue its ban on certain food products, ahead of the IAEA report's release.
The fishermen of Fukushima 12 years after the nuclear disaster
The Japanese energy company TEPCO wants to discharge more than one million tons of treated cooling water from the decommissioned nuclear power plant into the sea. Does this mean the end of fishing in the region?
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
The old man and the sea
Morning is already dawning as 71-year-old fisherman Haruo Ono unloads his catch at the small port of Shinchimachi. Ono, a third-generation fisherman, has been putting out to sea for half a century from Shinchimachi, just 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where one of the world's worst nuclear disasters occurred in 2011.
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
Fishing and surviving
While cleaning noodle fish, Ono remembers the day that changed everything: On March 11, 2011, a magnitude nine earthquake triggered huge tsunami waves on Japan's east coast. The fisherman survived on his boat, but his home on land was destroyed. He lost a younger brother. The tsunami also hit the Fukushima nuclear power plant, triggering explosions and a meltdown.
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
Fishing in contaminated waters
The radiation released during the reactor disaster brought the fishing industry in the region to a complete standstill. After 12 years, there are signs of a slight recovery, and fish prices are slowly picking up again. Ono finds the plans of the energy company TEPCO to discharge the contaminated water into the sea again "unbearable." "We have to go back to square one again," he fears.
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
Watery future
The countless water tanks on the site of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are a bone of contention. According to the authorities, the tanks must be removed before reconstruction. The water was mainly used to cool the reactors after the disaster.
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
Dispute over cooling water
A TEPCO employee holds a sample of treated water up to the camera. The water is treated, filtered and diluted. TEPCO and the government claim it is now safe. However, it contains traces of tritium. Although the radioactive isotope is considered relatively harmless, fishermen fear that discharging the water into the sea will once again destroy their business.
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
Everything under control?
Energy company TEPCO and the Tokyo government cite radiation testing standards that are more stringent than those of other countries that also discharge treated water. The release was also approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "We have the equipment to make the water safe," TEPCO spokesman Tomohiko Mayuzum told Reuters news agency.
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
Fish farming in the decommissioned nuclear power plant
To prove how harmless the treated water is, TEPCO is breeding flounder in tanks at the decommissioned Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Toshihiro Wada of Fukushima University can understand the fishermen's concerns: TEPCO's announcement to drain the contaminated water is "unfortunate" for the region's just-recovering fisheries, he said.
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
A matter of survival
Before the sale, fisherman Haruo Ono pours his catch into a water tank. He is angry with TEPCO: "The ocean isn’t a garbage can," he says in an interview with the Reuters news agency and asks: "Why release water into the Fukushima ocean, why not Tokyo or Osaka?" The people of the region have already suffered enough, he says, and now they are being made to suffer even more.
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
Creative reconstruction
Fisherman Ono on the spot where his house used to stand. After the tsunami, the area was turned into a park. Even though his new home is further inland, the 71-year old will be "working at sea" until his death. His outlook for for the future of fishing is bleak. "What about the kids in primary and junior school?," he asks. "It’s way too unstable for them to make a living from this."
Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS
9 images1 | 9
Japan has tried to assuage concerns over its plan.
"We will continue to explain the safety of the plan to release the treated water into the ocean to the international community, based on scientific evidence and with transparency," Hayashi said at Tuesday's briefing.
Grossi is also expected to visit South Korea, New Zealand and the Cook Islands to allay concerns overseas. He is also set to visit the Fukushima site to inspect some of the newly constructed facilities for the water release.
