Japan is to begin releasing treated wastewater from the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station from Thursday (24 August) with prime minister Fumio Kishida saying on Tuesday he had asked the facility’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), “to swiftly prepare for the water discharge” in accordance with plans approved by nuclear regulators.
Kishida said the release would begin on Thursday, “weather and ocean conditions permitting”.
The decision comes weeks after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), approved the discharge, saying that the radiological impact on people and the environment would be “negligible”.
The focus will now turn to Fukushima Prefecture, the location of the disabled nuclear power station, where over 1.3 million tonnes of water – cleansed of all its radioactive material except tritium – will be gradually poured into the ocean through an underwater tunnel.