IAEA's Next Visit To Japan On Water Discharge From Fukushima Daiichi May Occur Before 2022

The next visit of the international experts team to Japan regarding the issue of low-level radioactive water discharge from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may take place before the end of the year, Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Lydie Evrard said on Thursday

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th September, 2021) The next visit of the international experts team to Japan regarding the issue of low-level radioactive water discharge from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may take place before the end of the year, Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Lydie Evrard said on Thursday.

A follow-up visit may take place next year, Evrard also said at the press conference in Tokyo. The results of all meetings will be reflected in detailed reports containing the observations and conclusions of the experts.

Earlier on Thursday, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi announced that representatives of the IAEA and the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), have agreed to prepare regulatory requirements and safety standards for a review by the end of the year, as well as to monitor the quality of the marine environment.

In late April, the Japanese government decided to allow the dumping of water treated in the ALPS system, which purifies radioactive water from 62 radioactive elements, except for tritium, into the ocean beginning in 2023. The decision provoked the deep concern of Russia, China, South Korea and North Korea. At the same time, the IAEA expressed its support for this decision and announced its intent to send a team of experts to monitor the situation.

Thirty civic organizations, the All Japan Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Association, and individual associations of fishermen of Fukushima, Miyagi and Ibaraki prefectures, are opposed to the discharge of water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea. In Fukushima Prefecture, 41 municipalities have declared their disagreement, which is about 70% of the total.