Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Photographer: Toru Hanai / Bloomberg
Photographer: Toru Hanai / Bloomberg
China is stepping up pressure on Japan’s plan to release treated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, urging government officials to drink the liquid to prove their safety.
“Japanese politicians have said that treated wastewater is ‘innocent’, so why not drink, cook and wash clothes first with water?” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Twitter on Thursday. When Asked on Friday about the comments, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso ignored the questions and said Fukushima’s water contamination levels are below international guidelines.
Tokyo’s plan to release wastewater into the Pacific Ocean announced Tuesday was tough criticized by China, Taiwan, South Korea and North Korea.
Aso said the water seemed safe enough to drink. US State Department indicated that the plan appears to be in line with global discharge standards. International Atomic Energy Agency supported the planned launches, which will not start for another two years and are expected to last for decades.
Contaminated water storage tanks are at TEPCO’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in 2017.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Bloomberg
The US Food and Drug Administration claims restrictions on imports of food from Fukushima due to potential radioactive contamination, according to the prefecture’s website.
There have long been calls to prove the safety of treated groundwater flowing through the Fukushima plant. A ruling party official drank a glass of water in 2011 collected from inside the Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactor building in an attempt to support the government’s claims that decontamination efforts are progressing.
– With the assistance of Colum Murphy and Yuko Takeo