the IAEA wants to reassure the inhabitants of Fukushima before the waters of the nuclear power plant are discharged into the ocean

The discharge of water from the Fukushima plant in Japan will have an impact “negligible on the population and the environment”. Traveling in the country, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, met, Wednesday, July 5, residents of the city. The nuclear policeman tries to reassure them after approving the Japanese government’s plan, the aim of which is to get rid of nearly a million tons of water contaminated by the activities of the plant in the Pacific Ocean. Twelve years after the nuclear disaster caused by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, the site’s storage capacity will soon reach saturation.

These water releases should begin this summer and last several decades. The government plan consists first of all of treating the water resulting from the cooling of damaged nuclear reactors. If the chosen method eliminates all radioactive substances, tritium remains present in the water, even after filtration. Consequently, before being discharged, the water will then be diluted in order to lower the level of this radioactive material. “This is, as certified by the IAEA, a general practice which is accepted and observed in very many places, all over the world”assured Rafael Grossi from Japan.

Despite these declarations, the population remains suspicious: local fishermen fear in particular that their customers will shun their production, once the discards have started. The head of the IAEA reaffirmed that this plan “meets international safety standards” and that the role of his agency is not to “cover” something of “bad”. After a visit to the plant on Wednesday, he will begin a tour of several neighboring countries, including South Korea, to respond, again, to the indignation aroused by this project.