Seoul says Fukushima spill respects international standards
Seoul, Jul 7 (EFE).- The South Korean government published a report of its group of experts Friday and said Japan’s plan to dump purified radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean would respect international standards,
It said they include those established by the International Atomic Energy Agency, if it is executed as it has been structured.
“The report – in which 21 South Korean experts who visited the nuclear power plant at the end of May participated – has been made with the premise that Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the plant, will carry out the discharge plan as has planned it,” Executive Policy Minister Mang Moon-kyu said at a press conference.
According to a simulation carried out in the report based on the emission standard established by the company’s plan, radiation off the coast of South Korea would increase by one hundred thousandth of the current level.
The letter also says the technology of the purification system of the nuclear plant, has improved over time, so that, since mid-2019, levels of radionuclides in the treated water have been achieved within permissible limits.ffc
The South Korean government said at the time, before 2019, that the level of six types of radionuclides present in the Fukushuma water were above levels considered safe.
Specifically, the report said the concentration level of tritium, the only radioactive isotope that cannot completely be eliminated, would be within acceptable levels, taking into account that seawater would dilute it sufficiently.
The report also said currents would disperse contaminated water to the point that radioactive materials would be undetectable once the liquid reached South Korea’s shores, and says, as the government did this week, that it respects the Korean government’s report on regarding the spill.
The agency released a report Monday saying Japan’s plan “meets international safety standards” and will have “negligible” impact on human health and the environment.
The agency’s Director-General Rafael Grossi, will arrive Friday in Seoul, where he will remain until Sunday, to explain the report to different members of the South Korean Executive.
The dumping plan, expected to begin this summer, involves dumping close to 1.32 million tons of contaminated water used to cool the damaged reactors in the Pacific Ocean across several decades.
However, Japan’s plan has generated uneasiness in neighboring countries such as China or South Korea, where surveys show that more than 80 percent of the population rejects the spill. EFE
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