Japan urged to explain plan for Fukushima water

SEOUL - South Korea on Monday urged Japan to explain a plan to dispose of the water contaminated by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown amid the growing worry in South Korea about Japan's possible discharge of the water into the Pacific Ocean.

Kwon Se-jung, the director general of South Korea's Foreign Ministry in charge of environmental affairs, summoned Tomofumi Nishinaga, a diplomat for economic affairs from the Japanese embassy in Seoul, to deliver the note verbale, a diplomatic document requesting that Japan explain its discharge plan for the water containing radioactive materials.

The request came after Greenpeace, an environmental group, claimed that Japan recently pushed a plan to discharge into the Pacific Ocean more than 1 million tons of the high-level radioactive contaminated water from the Fukushima power plant meltdown.

The utility company operating Fukushima's tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant said on Aug 9 that in three years, it will run out of space for tanks to store massive amounts of treated but still contaminated water.

Kwon requested that the Japanese government officially verify the claims by environmental groups and media reports on its future disposal plan, the Seoul ministry said.

The note emphasized the grave impact that the ocean disposal could have on the health and safety of both countries' people and on all countries bordering the Pacific Ocean.

Kwon suggested that Seoul and Tokyo explore ways to prevent the contaminated Fukushima water from affecting the marine ecosystem in nearby waters as well as the health and safety of the South Korean people neighboring Japan.

Nishinaga, the Japanese diplomat, said he will report Seoul's position to the Japanese government and provide information on the disposal of the contaminated water to the South Korean government and the international community.

Xinhua - Ap

(China Daily 08/21/2019 page11)