SEOUL: South Korean nuclear safety experts who visited Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said on Wednesday (May 31) that detailed analysis was needed to verify Japan’s plan to release tonnes of contaminated water from it into the sea.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, about 220km northeast of Tokyo, was destroyed by a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami in 2011, triggering three reactor meltdowns.
Japan plans to dump more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water that was mainly used to cool the reactors into the sea by around this summer, triggering alarm at home and abroad, especially in fishing communities.
“Given our closest location, we are reviewing whether Japan has an appropriate discharge plan from a scientific and technological standpoint,” Yoo Guk-hee, chairman of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, who led a delegation on a site visit last week, told a briefing.
The Japanese utility responsible for the plant, and the Japanese government, say the water is safe after being treated, filtered and diluted though it does contain traces of tritium.