05/21/2023 10:26 am (act. 05/21/2023 10:26 am)
South Korean experts visit Fukushima nuclear ruins ©APA/AFP
Ahead of the planned disposal of large amounts of radioactive cooling water from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor, a group of experts in South Korea is reviewing the controversial measure. The group of 21 experts arrived in Japan on Sunday, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. She will stay until next Friday. The group wants to independently verify the safety of the proposed dump at sea.
It wants to examine the Fukushima facilities against scientific standards, said Nuclear Safety Commission Chairman Yoo Guk Hee, who leads the group. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to the visit at a meeting in Seoul earlier this month. Both South Korea and China are concerned that disposal could have a negative impact on the environment and the health of people in the region.
Even more than a dozen years after the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the destroyed reactors still need to be cooled with water that until now has been filtered and stored in hundreds of huge tanks. Because of overcharging, contaminated water must be filtered and then diluted in the Pacific Ocean. Disposal is being prepared.