The Japanese regulator asked the operator to "do everything possible" to ensure the controlled discharge is carried out without incident, and to guarantee the dismantling process of the plant, which will continue for several decades, progresses as planned, according to an assessment made public Wednesday.
This is the water contaminated with radioactive waste after being used to cool reactors or filtering into nuclear facilities, of which some 1.29 million cubic meters are stored in drums inside atomic facilities damaged by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 where space runs out.
After analyzing with a scientific panel a series of possible solutions of enormous technical complexity, including methods of evaporation or underground injection, Japanese authorities and the operator opted to dump the water into the sea after decontamination.
The water is treated with a processing system that eliminates most of the radioactive materials considered dangerous, with the exception of tritium, an isotope present in nature, although in low concentration.
Japanese authorities said the discharge would have radioactivity levels below the limit set by the
The plan faces opposition from local fishing organisations, whose activities have barely recovered from the 2011 nuclear disaster, and
The dump, scheduled to start in spring next year, has also drawn opposition from neighboring
The
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