SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea will ship a 21-member staff of presidency specialists to Japan subsequent week to go to the Fukushima nuclear energy plant the place they may overview contentious Japanese plans to launch handled however barely radioactive water into the ocean.
The six-day go to beginning Sunday will give attention to analyzing the plant’s processing system, which reduces radioactive supplies from contaminated water, and whether or not the handled water could be protected sufficient to be diluted and discharged into the ocean, officers mentioned Friday.
The security of the water for years has been a delicate situation between the U.S. allies, who at the moment are working to restore long-strained ties to deal with joint challenges just like the North Korean nuclear risk and China’s assertive overseas coverage.
After a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol this month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida introduced that his authorities had agreed to host a staff of South Korean specialists at Fukushima to calm South Korean issues about meals security, in a present of his need for improved ties.
Japanese officers say the South Korean go to to the plant won’t quantity to a real inspection, as the security of the water discharge plan is already underneath overview by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which can publicize the outcomes subsequent month.
The South Korean specialists will probably be briefed by Japanese officers over water therapy particulars and discharge plans on Monday earlier than visiting some services on the Fukushima plant on Tuesday and Wednesday. The South Koreans will then have “in-depth technical discussions” with associated Japanese authorities primarily based on their observations on Thursday earlier than returning dwelling, Park Ku-yeon, first vice minister of South Korea’s Office for Government Policy Coordination, mentioned throughout a briefing.
The South Korean staff will probably be led by Yoo Guk-hee, chairperson of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, who mentioned his focus will probably be on the plant’s superior liquid processing system, or ALPS, which is designed to cut back dozens of varieties of radioactive isotopes within the contaminated water to protected ranges.
“(Japan) has accepted almost all of our requests on the facilities we had hoped to see, except for those that had higher concerns for radioactive contamination or other safety issues,” Park mentioned.
South Korean officers say Japan has refused to obtain South Korean non-public specialists to the location, describing the go to as a government-to-government matter. Park mentioned non-public specialists could take part in an advisory group South Korea plans to type later to cross-examine the data gained from the go to.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry additionally confirmed the South Korean delegation’s go to to the Fukushima plant in an announcement that additionally endorsed the effectiveness of the ALPS system, saying it ensures that each one radioactive supplies aside from tritium are diminished to protected ranges.
“It is planned that ALPS-treated water will then be sufficiently diluted before the discharges so that the concentrations of the radioactive materials including tritium will be far below the regulatory standards for safety,” the ministry mentioned.
A large earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the Fukushima plant’s cooling methods, inflicting three reactors to soften and launch giant quantities of radiation.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holding, which operates the power, has been storing the ALPS-treated water in a whole lot of tanks that now cowl a lot of the plant and are almost full. Japanese officers say the tanks have to be eliminated to make room to construct services for the plant’s decommissioning and to reduce the chance of leaks in case of one other main catastrophe. The tanks are anticipated to succeed in their capability of 1.37 million tons in early 2024.
Japan first introduced plans to discharge the handled water into the ocean in 2018, saying that the handled water will probably be additional diluted by seawater earlier than being launched in a rigorously managed course of that may take many years to finish.
“We will focus on the ALPS facility and the status of the ocean discharge facility and will also review analyses of the contamination levels in ALPS-treated water, which will take place in the building’s chemical analysis building,” Yoo mentioned concerning the South Korean go to.
“We also plan to have in-depth discussions and question-and-answer sessions with Japanese officials about assessments on the radiation’s environmental impact, including possible accumulation in eco systems,” he mentioned.
South Korea’s authorities has not offered a particular time for when it might launch the outcomes of its findings in Fukushima. South Korean officers say Seoul won’t contemplate lifting its import ban on seafood from Fukushima even when it determines Japan’s water launch plan is protected, citing South Korean public issues and a necessity for deeper investigations into the environmental influence of the 2011 catastrophe.
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