The government formally authorized a plan on Tuesday to release treated radioactive water stored at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant into the sea and announced a sweeping range of steps to address mounting worries over reputational damage to local fisheries and food.
“The treated water’s discharge is an unavoidable issue in the process of decommissioning the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday morning.
“Today, we’ve made a decision that releasing the water into the sea is realistic and put together basic policies, on the condition that the government guarantees safety in a way that significantly goes beyond (national and international) standards and does everything it can to implement countermeasures against damage caused by rumors.”