TOKYO: The concentration of tritium in seawater near Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has remained below safety standards since the plant started releasing treated water into the ocean a year ago, according to the company and the Japanese government.
The plant has so far discharged 60,000 tons of treated water, which contains small amounts of radioactive tritium, into the sea after diluting it with seawater. It is expected to take about 30 years for the plant to complete the release of treated water.
The Japanese government has been urging China to lift its ban on imports of Japanese fishery products that was introduced in protest against the treated water release.
Masanobu Sakamoto, chief of Japan’s National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, urged industry minister Ken Saito on Friday to boost diplomatic efforts to have the Chinese ban lifted.
“Japanese fishery products have suffered major damage,” Sakamoto said. “Exports have not returned to levels and we can do nothing about China’s action,” he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has conducted two rounds of on-site inspections after the water discharge began, has said the release meets international safety standards.
Backed by the IAEA assessment, the Japanese government has been highlighting the safety of the water release.
Affected chiefly by the Chinese ban, Japan’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foods in the first six months of this year fell 1.8 percent from a year before to 701.3 billion yen, the first fall in four years on a first-half basis.
TEPCO estimates that it will have to pay about 75.3 billion yen in compensation to fishermen affected by the water release.
In the meeting with Sakamoto, Saito said that the water release is necessary for the reconstruction of Fukushima and the decommissioning of reactors at the plant, the site of the March 2011 triple meltdown.
“The government will take responsibility until the disposal of the treated water is completed, even if it takes several decades,” Saito said.
On Aug. 24 last year, the government and TEPCO started releasing treated water from the plant over the objections of fishermen, claiming that it is necessary to secure enough space for decommissioning work at the plant’s premises, which are occupied with tanks storing treated water.
JIJI Press