United Nations says water discharge from Fukushima nuclear power plant is not harmful – Observer

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed this Tuesday that the first discharges of treated radioactive water from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, are in line with predictions and without radiological impact on the population.

“We were able to confirm that the first discharges of water did not contain radionuclides at harmful levels“, said the director general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, during a visit to Stockholm.

“The first discharges are in line with our expectations, but we will continue to monitor the situation“, Grossi guarantees.

On August 24, the IAEA had reported that the concentration of the radioactive substance tritium was “far below the acceptable limit 1,500 becquerels (Bq) per liter,” a level well below the Japanese national standard for water.

The discharge of water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant – which had an accident in March 2011with three of its six reactors melting and contaminating the land in the vicinity of the complex after an earthquake and a tsunami – has raised fears among Japanese fishermen, but also strong opposition from China, which has suspended imports of products of origin water from Japan.

During the visit to the Swedish capital, the director general of the IAEA, an agency that integrates the UN system, also spoke about cooperation with Iran and attempts to regain international agreement on Tehran’s controversial nuclear program – after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States in 2018 –, stating that the pace of reinstallation of observation cameras at Iranian nuclear facilities is still too slow.

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We are at try to reinstall these cameraswork has begun, but it is not progressing at the pace we had hoped for”, admitted Grossi.

On his return from a visit to Tehran in March, Grossi had praised Iran’s promise to restart these surveillance devices, which had been turned off in June 2022, in a context of deteriorating relations with Western powers.

“We are awaiting clarification from Iran on the traces of uranium that were found. This is an ongoing process that can be improved,” said Grossi, referring to progress in negotiations with Tehran.