MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2021) Director-General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi and Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Hiroshi Kajiyama agreed on Thursday to start next month an on-site safety evaluation of the release of Fukushima Daiichi's contaminated water into the sea.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Japan today agreed to begin implementing the on-site safety review of the water release at Fukushima Daiichi in September," IAEA said in a release.
This agreement comes after Japan announced in April 2021 it would discharge the contaminated water into the sea in an estimated two years, and requested the IAEA's assistance in disposing of the liquid waste. The entire operation is projected to last for decades.
Senior IAEA officials are expected to meet with Japanese authorities and technical specialists in Tokyo and Fukushima on the first visit in September to ensure that the discharge has no adverse effects on humans or the environment.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility experienced core meltdowns as a result of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, producing huge volumes of radioactive water, which has been used to cool the reactors.
The water is treated using an advanced liquid processing system to remove most contaminants � but the process cannot, however, remove tritium, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear reactors. The water, totaling 1.2 million tons, is stored in tanks on the plant's premises, but space could run out by the fall of 2022.
In February of last year, a government panel proposed various options for disposing of the water, including releasing it into the ocean as well as evaporating it.
The following month, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), drafted a plan to dilute the water to levels below the legal limit for radioactive elements concentration and dump it in the sea.
However, local fishery industries and neighboring countries such as China and South Korea have expressed wariness over water discharge from the Fukushima plant into the environment.�
