Japan will start releasing wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday, a move that has drawn a strong reaction from China despite Japan’s assurances that it is safe.
Twelve years after one of the worst nuclear catastrophes in history, a major step toward decommissioning the still extremely dangerous site has been made with the start of the release of approximately 540 Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water into the Pacific over a number of decades.
The sea and weather were ideal, according to plant operator TEPCO, who stated that it would “switch on the seawater transfer pumps at around 1 pm (0400 GMT) to begin the ocean discharge.”
The procedure will be seen on-site by observers from the UN atomic watchdog, which has approved the plan, and TEPCO employees will be entrusted with collecting samples of the water and fish.
TEPCO claims that it needs to make room for the removal of highly hazardous radioactive nuclear fuel and debris from the destroyed reactors since there are about 1,000 steel containers storing the water.
