Japan Ensures Fukushima Waste Disposal Will Comply With International Standards

Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa expressed his views at the 24th ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers Meeting (APT FMM) in Jakarta, Thursday (13/7/2023). ANTARA PHOTOS/Muhammad Iqbal/YU

JAKARTA - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said the release of contaminated waste water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant would comply with international standards.

"The release of Fukushima wastewater will comply with international standards," Japanese Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Okano Yukiko said in an online media briefing on Friday, citing Foreign Minister Hayashi's remarks on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) in Jakarta, as reported by ANTARA, Friday, July 14.

Okano said Foreign Minister Hayashi's remarks were in response to concerns raised by the Office Director of the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs of China Wang Yi during the meeting.

Wang Yi expressed concern that the discharge of the wastewater may pose a risk to human health and also pollute the environment.

Hayashi, Okano said, responded to these concerns by saying that Japan would not dispose of contaminated wastewater from the Fukushima plant if doing so would harm human health and pollute the environment.

The discharge of wastewater will comply with international standards, including those set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Separately, in a bilateral meeting of the Japanese and South Korean (South Korean) foreign ministers on the sidelines of the AMM in Jakarta, Hayashi reiterated to South Korea that Japan, after the release of wastewater begins, will publish monitoring information transparently and quickly while undergoing a review conducted by IAEA.

If a problem is detected during the monitoring process, such as an abnormal value of the concentration of radioactive material, Japan will take appropriate measures as planned.

"Japan will take appropriate steps as planned, including immediately stopping the release," he said.