TOKYO – Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) started releasing more treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Thursday morning, as part of a plan that has caused tension with neighbouring China.
The discharge plan kicked off in August in a key step towards decommissioning the plant, which suffered meltdowns after being hit by a tsunami in 2011 in the world’s worst such nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years earlier.
The release that began on Thursday morning will run for about 17 days, as about 7,800 cubic m of the water is discharged into the Pacific Ocean, Tepco said in a statement.
“We started the release of the treated water into the ocean,” it added.
The nuclear authorities, including the United Nations nuclear watchdog, have said the plan will have a negligible impact on humans and the environment. But Japan’s move has angered some neighbours, especially China.
The initial release of the water in late August triggered a blanket ban on Japanese seafood products by China. Japanese businesses and offices were also subjected to a deluge of harassment calls, believed to have originated from China.
Mr Junichi Matsumoto, who is overseeing the water release at Tepco, said on Wednesday during a news conference that Tepco had received more than 6,000 calls from abroad between Aug 24 and 27.
Tepco did not track the exact number of such calls.
Japan has said the water is treated to remove most radioactive elements except tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that must be diluted as it is difficult to filter.
Tritium levels in the surrounding waters since the initial discharge have met pre-determined standards, according to tests conducted by Tepco.
“The first water discharge went forward as planned,” Mr Matsumoto said, adding that no major issues had been identified.
Despite the reassurances, a group of five people demonstrated outside the Japanese consulate in Hong Kong to demand an immediate halt to the discharge plan.
“Maybe Japan can explore various alternative approaches to engage the international community and find better ways to address this issue with us,” protester Pang Yap-ming, 31, told Reuters. REUTERS
