Hirokazu Matsuno, a top government spokesperson, told reporters during a briefing that no specific date for the water discharge had been decided.
Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reported on Monday that Japan intends to begin discharging treated radioactive water from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean as early as late August.
The release will probably happen soon after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden in the United States the following week to explain how the water release will be secure.
Hirokazu Matsuno, a top government spokesperson, told reporters during a briefing that no specific date for the water discharge had been decided.
Tokyo Electric Power (9501.T), the company operating the plant, has been given permission by Japan’s nuclear regulator to begin releasing the water, which although Japan and the International Atomic Energy Agency say is safe, neighbouring nations are concerned it could contaminate food.
According to the newspaper, the government intends to begin the water discharge before the beginning of the fishing season. Bottom-trawling fishing is scheduled to begin off Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo, in September.
The majority of the radioactivity in the water has been removed through treatment, but tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, is still present.
According to the NRA, the effects of the treated water’s release on environmental conditions and public health will be “negligible.” However, some nations, such as China and South Korea, have voiced opposition to the plan.
The Japanese government intends to begin discharging the purified water into the ocean as early as late August, according to the Asahi Shimbun. The process is anticipated to take decades to complete, and the water will be released at a rate of approximately 1 million tonnes per year.
The contaminated water that has accumulated at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan as a result of the devastating tsunami and earthquake in March 2011 is referred to as treated radioactive water. Several nuclear reactors melted down as a result of the Fukushima catastrophe, releasing radioactive materials into the environment.