Nuclear Tragedy At Fukushima: UN Inspector Authorizes Water Release Plan

According to a UN inspector, Japan’s plan to discharge waste water from the Fukushima nuclear facility into the ocean conforms with international regulations.

The emission will only have a “negligible” influence on the environment, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The water that was used to cool nuclear reactors is running out of storage capacity at the Fukushima site.

China and South Korea have protested Japan’s plan.

Tokyo has not provided a release date, and a regulator still needs to approve the plan.

Three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant were flooded in 2011 as a result of a tsunami brought on by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Since Chernobyl, it is recognized as the worst nuclear accident in history.

An evacuation zone that still exists surrounding the facility contained more than 150,000 people. The plant’s decommissioning has also begun, but it might take decades to complete.

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi promised to keep in touch with Japan even after the water has been released when he published the results of a two-year safety study on Tuesday.

The organization declared in May that Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the country’s nuclear watchdog, had demonstrated its capacity to take “accurate and precise measurements” of the radiation levels in the treated water. Tepco could give its final permission as soon as this week.

Every day, the facility generates 100 cubic meters of waste water. On-site tanks have a 1.3 million cubic meter capacity.

**Japan is running out of space to store waste water from Fukushima**

With the exception of tritium, a difficult-to-filter hydrogen isotope, most radioactive substances have been removed from the water.

According to Tokyo, the tritium levels in the seawater-treated water that will be discharged into the Pacific Ocean are far below those that are considered safe on a global scale.

Tritium levels in waste water from nuclear power plants throughout the world frequently exceed those in the Fukushima treated water.

However, the IAEA’s conclusion will do very little to allay the worries of the people of Japan and its neighbors.

China had already expressed its severe disapproval of Japan’s programme and cautioned the IAEA against endorsing it.

However, due to concerns over food safety, South Koreans have stocked up on sea salt before the water is released.

Local fishing communities have also vehemently opposed, claiming that it will harm their reputation even more.