Japan gets U.N. approval to release nuclear waste water into the Pacific Ocean

Japan plans to release more than a million tons of nuclear waste water into the Pacific.

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MANILA, Philippines — The International Atomic Energy Agency has approved a plan by Japan to release more than a million tons of treated nuclear waste water from the destroyed Fukushima power plant into the ocean, despite vehement international opposition.

In a report released Tuesday, the IAEA said it has concluded after a two-year assessment that the plan is “consistent with relevant international safety standards” and that while societal, political and environmental concerns have been raised, the discharged water “will have negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.”

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi traveled to Tokyo to present the findings to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. During a press conference, Grossi said the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog would monitor the discharge from on-site.

“This will ensure the relevant international safety standards continue to be applied throughout the decades-long process laid out by the Government of Japan and TEPCO [Tokyo Electric Power Company],” Grossi told reporters at the Japan National Press Club on Tuesday.

The plan was first presented in 2021 by Japan’s government, its Nuclear Regulation Authority and TEPCO, the operators of the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. All of them maintain that the process is safe.

The water, which was used to cool the fuel rods of the plant in 2011 following meltdowns in three of its reactors, will be treated and released into the Pacific Ocean over the next 30-40 years. The…