TOKYO: Japan won approval on Tuesday from the UN’s nuclear watchdog for its plan to release treated radioactive water from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima plant into the ocean, despite fierce resistance from Beijing and some local opposition.

Following a two-year review, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Japan’s plans were consistent with international safety standards and that they would have a “negligible radiological impact to people and the environment.” “This is a very special night today,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before handing him a thick blue folder containing the final report.

Japan has not specified a date to start the water release, which will take between 30 and 40 years to complete, pending official approval from the national nuclear regulatory body for Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco). The nuclear regulator’s final word could come as early as this week.

Local Japanese fishing unions have opposed the government’s plan, conceived in 2021, saying it would undo work to repair their reputations after several countries banned some Japanese food products following the 2011 disaster.

Some neighbouring countries have also complained over the years about the threat to the marine environment and public health, with Beijing emerging as the biggest critic of the plan.

“Japan will continue to provide explanations to the Japanese people and to the international community in a sincere manner based on scientific evidence and with high level of transparency,” Kishida said as he met with Grossi.

China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday expressed regret over the “hasty” release of report, saying that “If the Japanese side is bent on going its own way, it must bear all the consequences,” the ministry said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2023