TEPCO has said the wastewater has been filtered of all radioactive elements except tritium, which is within safe levels.
“It has been confirmed that the first release has been conducted as planned and in a safe manner,” government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Thursday, stressing no abnormalities had been detected.
The government will “continue to communicate, both domestically and internationally, results of monitoring data in a highly transparent manner”, Matsuno said.
CHINA’S FUKUSHIMA-LINKED SEAFOOD BAN
Japan is also urging China to “immediately scrap import bans on Japanese food, and act based on scientific justifications”, he added.
Russia, which has frosty relations with Japan, is reportedly considering following suit on the seafood ban.
Food exports from Japan to China plunged 41.2 per cent in August to ¥14 billion (US$94 million), according to finance ministry data.
China has accused Japan of using the ocean like a “sewer”, an assertion echoed at the United Nations last week by Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, whose cosying ties with Beijing have drawn alarm from traditional Western allies like Australia.
Following August’s initial release, numerous Japanese businesses reported having trouble conducting daily operations after being flooded with angry calls from Chinese numbers.
Tokyo, meanwhile, demanded that China ensure the safety of Japanese citizens after a brick was thrown at its embassy in Beijing.
The release of wastewater is aimed at making space to eventually begin removing highly dangerous radioactive fuel and rubble from the plant’s wrecked reactors.
TEPCO will be rigorous in overseeing the second round, an official told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday, while exercising “the utmost vigilance to ensure that there is no unintentional discharge” of treated water into the sea.
