TOKYO, 12 Mar: The head of the U.N. atomic agency on Tuesday emphasized to Japan\u2019s government the importance of transparency in its ongoing discharges of treated radioactive wastewater at the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
\nInternational Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi also expressed support for increasing Japan\u2019s nuclear capacity as the country looks to it as a stable, clean source of power.
\nGrossi is in Japan for the first time since releases of the treated water began in August. His visit comes one day after Japan marked 13 years since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered the Fukushima disaster.
\nThe 2011 disaster damaged the Fukushima plant\u2019s power supply and reactor cooling functions, triggering triple meltdowns and causing large amounts of radioactive wastewater to accumulate. After more than a decade of cleanup work, the plant began discharging the water after treating it and diluting it with large amounts of seawater on Aug. 24, starting a process that\u2019s expected to take decades.
\nThe discharges have been opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries including China, which banned all imports of Japanese seafood immediately after the release began.
\nJapan has sought the IAEA\u2019s help with safety monitoring and evaluation to allay concerns.
\nGrossi will examine the discharge and sampling facility Wednesday after meeting with local residents. He last visited the plant in July after issuing an IAEA review predicting only negligible impact from the discharges. The IAEA comprehensive report later concluded that the discharges have satisfied international safety standards.
\nIt is \u201cvery important to show the transparency of this process,\u201d Grossi told Economy and Industry Minister Ken Saito.
\nGrossi also offered Japan technical assistance to improve the idled Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan\u2019s northcentral region of Niigata, run by the Fukushima Daiichi operator. It and the government are keen to restart it soon.
\nThe Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant\u2019s No. 6 and No. 7 reactors had passed regulators\u2019 safety tests for a restart, but they were suspended from making further preparations after safeguarding problems surfaced in 2021. Those lasted until December, when the regulators acknowledged improvement.
\nIAEA is sending a team of experts to the plant later this month to assist Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings\u2019 effort to gain public trust.
\n\u201cWe want to be of assistance in helping Japan\u2019s nuclear capacity to be up and running as soon as possible,\u201d Grossi told Saito.
\nThe restart remains uncertain because it is subject to host community\u2019s consent. The Jan. 1 earthquake in the nearby Noto region rekindled safety concerns and prompted nuclear regulators to order a review of evacuation plans around nuclear facilities nationwide.
\nPrime Minister Fumio Kishida\u2019s government has reversed earlier plans for a nuclear phaseout and is accelerating the use of nuclear power in response to rising fuel costs related to Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and pressure to meet decarbonization goals.
\nGrossi will meet with Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Thursday and is expected to discuss cooperation in nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, North Korea and Iran as well as peaceful use of atomic energy.
\nJapan also wants to provide financial support for the IAEA\u2019s effort to protect Ukrainian nuclear plants from Russia\u2019s war, officials said.
\nEarlier Tuesday, Grossi in his meeting with Environment Minister Shintaro Ito pledged the IAEA\u2019s cooperation in the disposal of radioactive soil that came out of decontamination across Fukushima.
\nThe soil has been in an interim storage facility in Fukushima. A government plan to recycle it for road construction and other public works after safety tests has met fierce protests. The government has promised a final disposal plan outside of the prefecture by 2045. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOKYO, 12 Mar: The head of the U.N. atomic agency on Tuesday emphasized to Japan\u2019s government the importance of transparency in its ongoing discharges of treated radioactive wastewater at the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi also expressed support for increasing Japan\u2019s nuclear capacity as the country looks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-236874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}