An International Atomic Energy Agency task force set up last year to review the safety of Japan’s policy to handle treated water stored at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear station has carried out a new mission to the country to review its updated technical plans for the water discharge.
The updates – made in part due to feedback provided during an ongoing IAEA safety review process – include changes to the radiological environmental impact assessment before the discharge and the associated monitoring programmes. They also include the key issue of characterising the radioactivity in the water.
Japan announced in April 2021 that it planned to discharge more than 1.25 million cubic metres of treated water stored at the station by discharging it into the sea. The plan was approved by the nuclear regulator earlier this year.
The IAEA’s task force, a group of IAEA specialists and external experts from 11 countries, are conducting a multi-year review of the plan’s safety.
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