Japan says to release contaminated Fukushima water into sea

The water needs to be filtered again to remove harmful isotopes and will be diluted to meet international standards before any release.

Japan plans to release into the sea more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear station, the government said on Tuesday, a decision that is likely to anger neighbours such as South Korea.

A combination photo shows tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on March 17, 2011, six days after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the bottom photo taken from a helicopter on February 14, 2021, ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disaster. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN. (REUTERS)

The move, more than a decade after the nuclear disaster, will deal another blow to the fishing industry in Fukushima, which has opposed such a step for years.

The work to release the water will begin in about two years, the government said, and the whole process is expected to take decades.

"On the premise of strict compliance with regulatory standards that have been established, we select oceanic release," the government said in a statement after relevant ministers formalised the decision.

The water needs to be filtered again to remove harmful isotopes and will be diluted to meet international standards before any release.

The decision comes about three months ahead of the postponed Olympic Games to be hosted by Tokyo, with some events planned as close as 60 km (35 miles) from the wrecked plant.

The disposal of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power, has proved a thorny problem for Japan as it pursues a decades-long decommissioning project.