Last Fukushima wastewater inspection looms before discharge into sea

TOKYO: Japan's nuclear regulator will soon carry out a final inspection before releasing huge amounts of treated and diluted nuclear wastewater from the crippled Fukushima plant into the sea, a process that is expected to last for decades, reported German news agency.

Examinations of the new facilities that were constructed to carry out the discharge are set to be conducted on Wednesday, Japanese media reported.

The water, currently stored in about 1,000 huge tanks, will be filtered and diluted before being released through an underwater tunnel that extends a kilometre into the sea.

A trial run with fresh water will be completed before the inspections by experts with the Nuclear Regulation Authority begin.

Opposition to the discharge continues from local fishermen who fear the public will not want to consume their hauls, destroying their livelihoods.

The government will make a final decision on the release of the water after the nuclear authority completes its inspection and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has submitted its final report on the safety of the controversial venture.

On March 11, 2011, a tsunami triggered by a huge earthquake rammed into the Japanese coast, leading to thousands of deaths and a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Even 12 years on, water is needed to cool the reactors that were destroyed. The water has been stored in hundreds of huge tanks.

But knowing that the storage capacity was finite, plans were made to filter the contaminated water, then dilute it and discharge it into the Pacific Ocean.

The process cannot remove the radioactive substance tritium. Nuclear experts in Japan and at the UN say there is no danger because the diluted wastewater will only contain a trace amount that is not harmful to humans.

-- BERNAMA