Japan to obtain important U.N. ruling for Fukushima water escape

July 5, 2023: On Tuesday, Japan is formed to accept a message from a U.N. nuclear watchdog approving its plan to release treated radioactive water from the tsunami-affected Fukushima plant into the ocean despite fierce resistance from Beijing and a few opposition.

International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, chief Rafael Grossi starts a four-day visit to Japan when he will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and deliver the agency’s two-year safety review results.

Japan has yet to specify a date to begin the water release, which will take 30 to 40 years to complete, pending the IAEA’s review and official approval from the national nuclear regulatory body for Tokyo Electric Power. The nuclear regulator’s last word could come as early as this week.

Some Japanese fishing unions have opposed the government’s plan, created in 2021, saying it would undo work to repair their reputations after several countries banned some Japanese food products following the 2011 disaster.

Some neighboring countries have, over the years, also complained about the threat to the marine habitat and public health, with Beijing emerging as the most prominent critic of the 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,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a joint briefing with Grossi.

Through its embassy in Japan, Beijing on Tuesday said the IAEA’s report could not be a “pass” for the water release and called for the plan’s suspension.

Japan maintains the process is safe as it has treated the water enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools to cool the Fukushima plant’s fuel rods after the earthquake and tsunami 2011.

The water has been filtered to remove most radioactive elements except tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is difficult to separate from water. The treated water will be diluted to well below internationally approved levels of tritium before being released into the Pacific Ocean.

China on Tuesday said Japan’s comparison of the tritium levels in the treated water and wastewater was “completely confusing concepts and misleading public opinion.”

On Wednesday, Grossi will visit the Fukushima plant. After his Japan trip, he will head to South Korea, where consumers have been cracking up sea salt and other items before the water release.

According to media reports, he is also expected to visit New Zealand and the Cook Islands to ease concerns over the plan.