TOKYO, Aug 21 — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will today meet fishing industry representatives in a bid to convince them of the safety of treated radioactive water due to be released from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
The water has mostly been used to cool nuclear reactors damaged in 2011 when tsunami waves crashed into the plant on the coast north of Tokyo after an earthquake. Kishida, who visited the plant yesterday, said last week his government was in the final stage of deciding when to begin the release. Despite such assurances, the prospect of more than a million tons of water being pumped into the Pacific from the nuclear plant owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company has raised alarm.