CHINA has again urged Japan to respond seriously to international concerns about the discharge of radioactive contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea and establish an international monitoring arrangement that will stay effective for the long haul.
Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that China remained unequivocally opposed to the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima and called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which recently announced it would send a team to Japan next week to take marine samples near the discharge site, to step up its supervision and monitoring of the water discharge.
China remained unequivocally opposed to the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima and called on the IAEA, which recently announced it would send a team to Japan next week to take marine samples near the discharge site, to step up its supervision and monitoring of the water discharge.
To recall, last week, the powerplant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) started the second round of discharges of nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and planned to release 7,800 tons of wastewater over 17 days.
Wang said the IAEA plan to collect and analyze samples from Japan’s coastal waters under a bilateral arrangement with Japan fell short of China’s call for an international monitoring arrangement that had the full participation of all stakeholders.
“As to the planned collection of marine samples near Fukushima next week and laboratory analysis and comparison of those samples, these are again carried out by the IAEA Secretariat under its bilateral arrangement with Japan and therefore fall short of an international monitoring arrangement with the full and substantive participation of all stakeholders that will stay effective for the long haul. China urges Japan to respond seriously to international concerns and seriously establish an international monitoring arrangement that will stay effective for the long haul,” according to Wang Wenbin, Spokesman, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.