Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks with reporters in Tokyo on July 11 before departing to attend the NATO summit meeting in Lithuania. (Koichi Ueda)

KAUNAS, Lithuania--Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated that there was no change in the timetable to start releasing “sometime this summer” treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.

Speaking with reporters on July 12, Kishida said, “I want to make a decision after the government as a whole confirms that safety will be secured and depending on the extent to which measures to deal with negative publicity are in place.”

Kishida was in Kaunas to attend the NATO summit.

Earlier on July 12, the prime minister met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on the sidelines of the summit.

Kishida told reporters that he explained to Yoon that every effort would be made to ensure the safety of the water discharged into the ocean and that none would be conducted if there were any negative effects on the environment and the health of the people of Japan and South Korea.

Kishida also told Yoon that the results of monitoring of the water discharge would be released promptly and that the discharge would be temporarily suspended if problems arose, such as if safety standards for radioactive elements are exceeded.

Radioactive water processed by the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), which removes radioactive substances other than tritium, will be diluted with seawater.

After tritium levels are lowered under one-40th of government standards, or 1,500 becquerels per liter, the water will be released into the ocean.

Kishida also told reporters that Yoon said his government would respect the recent release of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s final report on the water discharge plan, which said the release would have a negligible effect on humans and the environment.

Related News