IAEA Greenlights for Japan’s Nuclear Wastewater Discharge | News

On Tuesday, Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to deliver the IAEA final assessment report on the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) proposed in the Japanese discharge plan.

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He defended the “reliability” of the Japanese plan to process and discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

The IAEA holds that the process devised by Japan “meets international safety standards” and will have “negligible radiological impact” on human health and the environment.

Nevertheless, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jiangha stated that the IAEA report does not necessarily greenlight the Japanese plan to discharge nuclear-tainted water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Following the ocean discharge decision announced in April 2021 and the official plan released in July 2022, the Japanese government repeatedly declared that it would not delay the discharge long before the IAEA task force completed the assessment and issued the final report, leaving the international community with a serious question mark over Japan’s sincerity, the embassy told a press conference held in Tokyo.

The Chinese diplomat pointed out that the IAEA, in terms of functional authorization, is mandated to promote the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear technology, but is not the appropriate body to assess the long-term effects of nuclear-contaminated water on the marine environment and marine life’s health.

Adding that Japan limited the mandate of the IAEA task force and does not accept evaluation on other disposal options, it stated the IAEA report cannot prove the legitimacy and legality of Japan’s ocean discharge plan, nor can it absolve Japan of its moral responsibility and obligations under international law.

Wu called the Japanese government to revoke its wrong decision of dumping wastewater into the ocean, urging it to face up to the legitimate and reasonable concerns both at home and abroad and fulfill its obligations under international law.

Japan should seek disposal of nuclear-contaminated water in a scientific, safe, and transparent manner and accept strict international supervision, he added.

The Chinese embassy also elaborated on the huge risks that the discharge might bring to the global marine environment and human health, and Japan’s deliberate confusion about the tritium content in contaminated water from the crippled power plant and the amount of tritium contained in the normal cooling water discharged from other nuclear power plants.