Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant to start releasing wastewater on Thursday

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday (August 22) announced that the release of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific will start on Thursday (August 24), amid opposition from fishermen and China.

Japan continues to claim that it is safe to slowly release more than 500 Olympic swimming pools' worth of water. United Nations atomic agency has been supporting Japan's viewpoint.

"We will request TEPCO to promptly prepare for the start of oceanic discharge based on the plan approved by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, with discharge expected to be August 24 if weather and sea conditions do not hinder it," said Kishida on Tuesday after a meeting of ministers in Tokyo, which referred to the plant's operator.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Around 18,000 people were killed due to a massive earthquake and tsunamiin March 2011, with theFukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant also being affected,turning the event into one of the worst-ever atomic disasters in the world.

ALSO READ |Japanese PM Kishida visits Fukushima plant, to discuss timing for release of treated radioactive water

Since then, 1.34 million tonnes of water, which was used to coolhighly radioactive reactors, has been collected by operator TEPCO and mixed with groundwater and rain that has seeped in. TEPCO claimed that the water was filtered and diluted for the removal of all radioactive substances except fortritium, which is below dangerous levels.

Water to be released at a maximum rate of 500,000 litres per day

The water will be released from the plant into the ocean off Japan's northeast coast at a maximum rate of 500,000 litres per day.

Environmental pressure group Greenpeace called the filtration process 'flawed' and said that in the coming decades, an "immense" quantity of radioactive waste will be spread into the sea.

A nuclear expert from the University of Adelaide, Tony Hooker while speaking to AFP news agency, dismissed that as "fear-mongering". "Tritium has been released (by nuclear power plants) for decades with no evidential detrimental environmental or health effects," Hooker said.

WATCH |Japan's Kishida visits Fukushima plant to highlight safety before start of treated water release

In July, the UN atomic watchdog said that the release would have a "negligible radiological impact on people and the environment".

However, a lot of South Koreans are alarmed at the prospect of water's release from the plant and have been protesting as well as stocking up on sea salt in case there is contamination.

But the government of President Yoon Suk Yeol, taking political risks at home, is aiming at improvising long-frosty relations with Japan and has not objected to the plan.

(With inputs from agencies)

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE