THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
August 7, 2023 at 14:03 JST
Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in July (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant could start by late August after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida explains the plan to his U.S. and South Korean counterparts.
Cabinet ministers involved in the issue are expected to officially determine the release date after Kishida returns to Japan following separate meetings on Aug. 18 with U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol outside Washington, sources said.
In the talks scheduled on the sidelines of a summit among the three countries, Kishida plans to explain the safety of the treated water and measures that will be taken after the water discharge.
Kishida is also expected to detail the plan in a meeting with representatives of Japan’s National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations.
The government has said it will begin releasing the water, which has been accumulating at the stricken nuclear plant for years, into the ocean “around this summer.”
Senior officials in the prime minister’s office said more than a week after the date is set will be needed for preparations and to publicize activities before the water release will start.
The government is eyeing the end of August for the water discharge in part to avoid the trawling period, which begins off Fukushima Prefecture in September.
The senior officials also said Japan will not announce a water-release date before the Kishida-Yoon meeting out of consideration to the South Korean government, which faces criticism at home for showing some acceptance of the plan.
If the date is set before the summit, Yoon’s responses to Kishida during the meeting would become a focus of attention and could deal a blow to the South Korean government ahead of a general election next year.
Japan also hopes to use the summit meetings to underscore the three-nation unified front on the issue to China, which staunchly opposes the release plan, citing safety concerns.
At international meetings and other occasions, Japan has emphasized that China’s arguments against the water release lack scientific grounds.
Kishida will meet Yoon to explain Fukushima nuke water release
July 6, 2023
Kishida offers ‘personal feeling’ to settle wartime laborers issue
May 8, 2023
Kishida: Still a go for Fukushima water release to start in summer
July 13, 2023
S. Korea asks to send experts to monitor Fukushima water release
July 13, 2023
Formal summit between Kishida, Yoon eyed for later this month
November 3, 2022
Japan, S. Korea eye visit by team of experts to Fukushima nuclear plant
May 12, 2023
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
