Weather permitting, Japan will on Thursday begin the controversial release of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a move furiously opposed by some regional neighbours and fishing and environmental organisations.
Most of the nuclear and radiology experts who have commented on the release support Japan’s plans, however. They accept the conclusions of a two-year safety review by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, which found “negligible radiological risk” to people or the marine environment from the plan to pump 1.3mn tonnes of treated water into the sea over the next 30 years.
What is in the Fukushima discharge water?
Since the catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co has sprayed seawater over its damaged reactor cores to prevent them overheating.