IAEA chief affirms Fukushima water release plan amid concerns

In his first interview since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report greenlighting Japan’s plan to release the treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said one or two of the experts behind the report may have had concerns. The interview on Friday, July 7, came a day after China’s state-run Global Times newspaper said Liu Senlin, a Chinese expert in the IAEA’s technical working group, was disappointed with the “hasty” report.

“I heard that being said. I’m not sure to be honest that that is the case,” Grossi said. “But again, what we’ve published is scientifically impeccable.”

Liu also said the input from experts was limited and only used for reference. South Korea, which has previously expressed concerns about the Fukushima water release plan, said Friday it respected the IAEA’s review.

“The government respects the report as IAEA is the leading organization in nuclear safety,” Bang Moon-kyu, the South Korean Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said Friday. “The domestic review focused on the possible effect on South Korea. The result showed that its effect on our waters is nonsignificant.”

Before the water is released into the ocean, Japan says it will be filtered to remove most radioactive elements except for tritium. According to Japanese officials, the treated water will be diluted to well below internationally approved levels.

It’s not just experts expressing concerns over the Fukushima water release plan. It’s also met resistance in Japan, especially among the local fishing community. Grossi said he understood the concerns, because “nothing identical” to this release had happened before.

“I think it’s logical that people that are not experts in these matters. They see all these tanks full of water. They learn that these tanks are the water. There has some elements there that could be bad. And they learn that this water is going to go to the ocean. So, it’s entirely logical and time to go that there are concerns,” Grossi said. “I think one has to trust the scientific work of the IAEA. We are neutral, we do not take sides. We look at the science, we look at the problem and we have an assessment and then we can we can discuss.”