The concentration of tritium in the water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which Japan began releasing into the sea on Thursday, is well below the expected limit, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
“IAEA specialists this week collected samples of the water prepared for the first spills,” the UN body that oversees the operation said in a statement.
“An independent on-site analysis confirmed” that the concentration of the radioactive substance tritium was “well below the operational limit of 1,500 becquerel (Bq) per liter.”
The discharge of water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean was initiated shortly after 1:03 p.m. local time (5:03 a.m. Lisbon time) by the operator of Fukushima Daiichi, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO).
The operator aims to release 31,200 tonnes of treated water by the end of March 2024, which would empty only 10 of the approximately 1,000 storage tanks, although the rate of discharge is expected to increase later.
Preparations began on Tuesday after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave the final go-ahead at a meeting of ministers involved in the IAEA-approved plan.
Junichi Matsumoto had said that, in the first phase, which should last about 17 days, some 7,800 cubic meters of water containing tritium, a radioactive substance that is only dangerous in highly concentrated doses, would be released.
The release of water begins almost 12 and a half years after the March 2011 nuclear meltdown, triggered by a strong earthquake and ‘tsunami’.
The plan raised concerns among Japanese fishermen’s groups as well as neighboring countries, sparking street protests in South Korea and prompting mainland China and the Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao to ban imports of some food products from 10 provinces of Japan.
In a statement released about half an hour after the announcement of the start of the downloads, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the decision as “an extremely selfish and irresponsible action that does not take international public interest into account.”
Source: TSF
