Over 70 per cent of Fukushima waste water fails discharge limits and needs more treatment, says China’s nuclear watchdog

China Atomic Energy Authority disputes IAEA report stating Japan’s plan to release radioactive water into the sea meets international standards

China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration to keep monitoring radiation levels in the ocean following waste water discharge from Japanese nuclear plant

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Tepco’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plan in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, is pictured on Monday, July 3. Japan is set to win approval to discharge more than a million cubic meters of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site into the Pacific Ocean. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:30pm, 5 Jul 2023Updated: 10:10am, 13 Jul 2023

More than 70 per cent of nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant fails to meet discharge limits after going through a filtration system and requires further treatment, the Chinese nuclear regulatory agency said on Tuesday.

Moreover, the previous operation of the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) has proved ineffective in removing elements such such as tritium and carbon-14, and further testing is required to determine whether others can be effectively removed, the China Atomic Energy Authority said in response to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA said in a report on Tuesday that Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water into the sea met international standards and the impact on people and the environment would be negligible.

“Based on its comprehensive assessment, the IAEA has concluded that the approach and activities to the discharge of ALPS treated water taken by Japan are consistent with relevant international safety standards,” IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a foreword to the report.

The Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) said in a statement in May that the G7 supported the IAEA’s independent review to ensure the discharge process would be in line with the agency’s safety standards.

However, China said it “regretted the hasty release of the report”.

Deng Ge, secretary general of the China Atomic Energy Authority, said the IAEA report failed to fully reflect views from experts who took part in the review and the conclusions were limited and one-sided.