Japan starts releasing treated radioactive water

TOKYO: Japan has begun releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea on Thursday, amid concern among local fishermen and some neighbouring countries re-garding its impact on the environment, Kyodo News reported.

Earlier in the week, the Japanese government had announced that it would begin discharging the water used to cool melted nuclear fuel at the plant that has been treated through a state-of-the-art liquid processing system capa-ble of removing most radionuclides, except tritium, according to Kyodo News. Kyodo News showcases a selection of major stories reported from Japan and other parts of the world. The water release started around 1 pm (local time).

The contentious decision was made at a ministerial meeting on Tuesday morning because a sizable volume of water has accumulated at the site since the nuclear disaster in 2011, which was brought on by a devastating earth-quake and subsequent tsunami. In April 2021, Yoshihide Suga, Kishida’s predecessor, gave his approval for the water release into the Pacific Ocean “in about two years”. The current administration announced in January that the plan would be implemented sometime between “spring to around summer,” as reported by Kyodo News.

Local fishermen in Japan have opposed the water release proposal because they fear it will further damage the reputation of their seafood goods. They argue that they have already put years of arduous effort to rebuild cus-tomer trust following the initial nuclear calamity.

Kyodo News reported citing sources familiar with the situation that the government has decided to release the treated water before the start of the trawl fishing season off Fukushima in September in light of the fishing commu-nity’s concerns.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility on Sunday and spoke with the chairman of Japan’s national fishing federation the following day in the prime minister’s office in an effort to persuade fishermen to agree to the government’s proposal. (ANI)

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