The revision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea) in Japan on the government’s plan to release the radioactive water, accumulated in the tanks following the Fukushima nuclear accident, into the ocean is underway. The group of 15 people arrived in Tokyo is made up of IAEA delegates and international experts, also from China and South Korea, countries who have expressed caution on the project, citing the repercussions on the environment.
The Tokyo government’s decision was announced last April, due to the excessive storage of radioactive water in tanks, more than one million tons to date, used to cool reactors damaged in the accident. An advanced filtering system manages to remove most of the harmful elements present in the liquid, except for tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, but the Japanese executive argues that the dilution and release of water over decades is not harmful to the ecosystem.
An opinion shared by the director of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, in February 2020, who had admitted that the operation is in line with international standards of the nuclear industry.
However, the project has among its biggest opponents the fishing industry, as well as residents of the entire prefecture of Fukushima, heavily damaged by the hostility of neighboring countries and the blockade on the import of local agricultural products. The IAEA review will last 5 days and end on February 18, and includes a visit to the plant devastated in the catastrophe. The plan of the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) provides for the construction of a tunnel one kilometer below sea level, while the initial spill of the liquid is set for the spring of 2023.
Source: Ansa
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