THE international community demands for an international monitoring arrangement for Japan’s nuclear-contaminated water release plan that has lasted for almost two months.
This was said by Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Beijing, in response to a question on Chinese experts’ participation in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigations of Japan’s plan.
“China’s opposition to Japan’s dumping the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean is consistent and clear. It has been almost two months since Japan started the ocean discharge. The international community demands for an international monitoring arrangement that will stay effective for the long haul and ensure substantive participation of Japan’s neighboring countries and other stakeholders. We believe that the IAEA should play its due role and work constructively for this and step up to its responsibility of providing rigorous supervision on Japan’s ocean discharge. Japan should work in full coordination and avoid irreversible damage caused by the ocean discharge,” according to Mao Ning.
It can be remembered that the initial discharge of the treated radioactive wastewater started on August 25, and the whole of its release will go on for at least three decades.
The operator of the nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) plans to discharge more than 31,000 tons of diluted toxic water in four rounds by the end of March 2024.
TEPCO said water samples collected from the ocean to date were found to be within safety limits.
However, people worldwide have doubted it and believed the safety of the said water was exaggerated.
