The ongoing discharge of treated radioactive wastewater at the ruined Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has met safety standards and any restrictions on products from the region are “not scientific,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi told local Japanese representatives at a meeting in Fukushima yesterday.
Grossi joined local officials and representatives from fishing and business groups, and reassured them that the discharges are being carried out “with no impact to the environment, water, fish and sediment.”
Grossi, who arrived in Japan on Tuesday, returned to Fukushima for the first time since the release of the treated water began in August last year.
Photo: AP
He examined the discharge and sampling facility later yesterday.
He previously visited the plant in July last year after issuing an IAEA review predicting only negligible impact from the discharges.
An IAEA report later said that the discharges meet international safety standards.
The 2011 disaster damaged the Fukushima plant’s power supply and reactor cooling functions, triggering triple meltdowns and causing large amounts of radioactive wastewater to accumulate. After more than a decade of cleanup work, the plant on Aug. 24 last year began discharging the water after treating it and diluting it with large amounts of seawater, starting a process that is expected to take decades.
The discharges have been opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries, including China, which banned all imports of Japanese seafood immediately after the release began.
“There is no scientific reason to impose any restriction on products coming from us,” Grossi said at the meeting in Iwaki. “This is very important in particular to be said in this forum here in Fukushima.”
There was a “political dimension to this activity, since ... some neighboring countries are also manifesting concerns,” he added.
Despite earlier fears that the water discharge would further hurt Fukushima’s hard-hit fishing industry, it has not damaged its reputation domestically.
China’s ban on Japanese seafood mostly hit scallop exporters in Hokkaido.
Tokyo has earmarked more than ￥100 billion (US$680 million) that includes compensation and other support, including measures to help find other export destinations.
The discharges are at the beginning of a long process, Grossi said, stressing the importance of “transparency, technical accuracy and wide open, honest dialogue and consultation.”
The IAEA has its own office and lab at the Fukushima plant to independently monitor the process, he added.
Grossi said he met with residents not only to highlight the main points about the discharges, but “to learn from you.”
He said he would keep coming back to Fukushima and that he is open to hearing residents’ concerns and needs.
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