Japan to start Fukushima water release on Thursday

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida answers questions from reporters upon his arrival at the prime minister's office on Tuesday in Tokyo. [AP/YONHAP]

Japan will start discharging its treated radioactive water into the sea starting Thursday, according to media reports.  
 
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida approved the plan on Thursday, Kyodo News reported.
 
Tokyo’s plan to release the contaminated radioactive water, which was generated in the process of cooling reactor fuel at the plant after it suffered a meltdown during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan, has aroused significant opposition in Korea.
 
Under a plan that the International Atomic Energy Agency has found to be compliant with global safety standards, Japan is to gradually release the water via an underwater tunnel 1 kilometer (3,280 feet) from the power plant after diluting it to one-fortieth of the concentration permitted under Japanese safety standards.
 

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant sits in coastal towns of both Okuma and Futaba, as seen from the Ukedo fishing port in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in northeastern Japan, on March 2, 2022. [AP/YONHAP]

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]