The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Tuesday that the first discharges of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan, are in line with forecasts and without radiological impact on the population.
“We were able to confirm that the first water spills did not contain radionuclides at harmful levels,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said during a visit to Stockholm.
“The first registrations are in line with our expectations, but we will continue to monitor the situation,” Grossi guaranteed.
On August 24, the IAEA had reported that the concentration of the radioactive substance tritium was “well below the acceptable limit of 1,500 becquerels (Bq) per liter”, a level well below the Japanese national standard for water.
The spill of water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant – which suffered an accident in March 2011, melting three of its six reactors and contaminating the land near the complex after an earthquake and a tsunami – has aroused fears among Japanese fishermen. but also strong opposition from China, which has suspended imports of aquatic products from Japan.
During the visit to the Swedish capital, the director general of the IAEA, an agency that is part of the UN system, also spoke about cooperation with Iran and the attempts to recover the international agreement on Tehran’s controversial nuclear program – after the unilateral abandonment decision – by the United States in 2018 -, stating that the rate of reinstallation of observation cameras at Iranian nuclear facilities is still too slow.
“We are trying to reinstall those cameras, the works have started, but they are not progressing at the rate we expected,” Grossi admitted.
Returning from a visit to Tehran in March, Grossi praised Iran’s promise to restart these surveillance devices, which had been deactivated in June 2022, amid deteriorating relations with Western powers.
“We are waiting for clarification from Iran on the traces of uranium found. This is an ongoing process that can be improved,” Grossi said, referring to progress in negotiations with Tehran.
Source: TSF
