A mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Japan on Monday for its third review of the operations to discharge into the sea tritium-containing treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The team will conduct on-site safety inspections at the meltdown-hit plant in Fukushima Prefecture and meet with representatives of the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco), which releases the water, during their stay until Thursday.
At a meeting Monday, Gustavo Caruso, director and coordinator at the IAEA’s Nuclear Safety and Security Department, explained plans to produce the agency’s third report on the water release operations after directly checking discharge-related facilities and equipment.
He said that the IAEA will continue to monitor the discharge of treated water into the ocean until the last drop.
The IAEA mission includes experts from the United States, China, South Korea and Russia. In the previous two reviews, the agency said that the water release operations were consistent with international safety standards.
Tepco completed the sixth round of the discharge last month. The first round began in August last year.