The Japanese government decided Tuesday to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the
The decision ends years of discussions on how to dispose of water accumulating at the plant after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a triple meltdown in
The actual release of the water, which will be significantly diluted, will not begin for about two years as the utility,
Water pumped into the ruined reactors at the Fukushima plant to cool the melted fuel, mixed with rain and groundwater that has also been contaminated, is treated using an advanced liquid processing system, or ALPS.
The process removes most radioactive materials including strontium and cesium but leaves behind tritium, which is related to hydrogen and said to pose little health risk in low concentrations. The water is being kept in tanks on the plant's premises -- more than 1.25 million tons in total.
"Disposing of the treated water is an unavoidable issue for decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi plant," Prime Minister
The plan will be implemented "while ensuring that safety standards are cleared by a wide margin and firm steps are taken to prevent reputational damage" for the fishery industry, he said.
The head of the national federation of fisheries cooperatives,
The South Korean government held an emergency meeting to discuss its response, with a senior official saying
Meanwhile, the
According to the government's plan, the tritium will be diluted to less than 1,500 becquerels per liter, one-40th of the concentration permitted under Japanese safety standards and one-seventh of the
Third parties including the
A subcommittee of
The government had initially hoped to finalize the decision last October, viewing it as necessary to clear up space at the Fukushima plant in order to move forward with the decades-long decommissioning process, but decided it needed more time to convince local fishermen.
If the fishing industry is deemed to have suffered reputational damage,
==Kyodo
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