A team of South Korean experts arrived in Japan on Sunday for an unprecedented six-day visit that will include a trip on Tuesday to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, where the government is planning to release treated water into the ocean as part of a decadeslong decommissioning process.
Concerned about the aftereffects of the March 2011 nuclear disaster, South Korea continues to uphold a ban on seafood and marine imports from the area around the Fukushima No. 1 plant, despite Japanese government insistence the food is safe.
Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Chairperson Yoo Guk-hee is heading a 21-member team of government experts, who on Monday met with nuclear officials from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) and various government agencies that oversee Japan's nuclear power industry. They will tour the plant on Tuesday and Wednesday, paying particular attention to Japan’s plans to discharge treated water, currently being stored at Fukushima No. 1, into the ocean.
The water used to cool melted nuclear fuel debris is scheduled to be released into the ocean after first being treated by an advanced liquid processing system, or ALPS, which can remove most radioactive particles except tritium.
"We will check on the safety of the process based on a scientific foundation and standards, without tilting in any particular direction, and we will leave no stone unturned,” Yoo told reporters in South Korea on Sunday before departing for Tokyo.
Tritium has a half life of about 12.3 years, and its beta rays can be shielded with a thin sheet of paper. It is not considered dangerous as long as emitted levels are within regulatory standards. When it enters the body — through ingestion, absorption or inhalation — it’s eventually excreted with water and does not accumulate in living organisms, including fish.
Tepco’s method will reduce radioactivity levels to 1,500 becquerels per liter, far below the national safety standard of 60,000 becquerels per liter.
The South Korean trip comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency continues to conduct a separate inspection of the Fukushima No. 1 plant and will release a report on its safety in late June.
As of April, 1.32 million tons of water had been filtered using the ALPS system and was being stored in over 1,000 tanks. The Fukushima plant and the surrounding area produce 100,000 liters of contaminated water per day.
On-site storage capacity has reached 97%, which is why Tepco wants to release the water into the ocean later this summer, and is expected to continue to do so for decades, something that has long raised concerns both domestically and in nearby nations, including China and South Korea.
The South Korean team’s trip comes as a result of an agreement between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at their bilateral summit earlier this month, and is seen as a further attempt to improve relations between Japan and South Korea, which has banned imports from Fukushima Prefecture since 2013.
Previously, Japan accepted inspection tours of Fukushima by delegates from the United States, Taiwan and Pacific island nations. The U.S. and Taiwan lifted their bans on Fukushima-area foods in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
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