Japan PM Kishida urges safety ahead of Fukushima radioactive water release

Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday urged that the Fukushima nuclear power plant be decommissioned in a safe manner amid lingering concerns over radioactive wastewater.

Kishida visited with plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company chairman Kobayashi Yoshimitsu and other officials to discuss the release of Fukushima's radioactive water. A date for the release has not yet been set, but Kishida is scheduled to meet with cabinet ministers on Tuesday to discuss the timeline, Kyodo News reports.

A South Korean government task force has signed off on Japan's plan, which includes diluting the treated water to lower its tritium levels below the World Health Organization's guidelines for drinking water before release.

The Tohoku tsunami in March 2011 caused the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Since then, an estimated 1.3 million metric tons of water used to cool the three overheating nuclear reactors on the site have accumulated.

"This issue is a challenge that cannot be postponed for the sake of proceeding with decommissioning [the plant's reactors] and Fukushima's reconstruction progress," Kishida told reporters.

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency backed the water release plan in July, determining that it would have a "negligible radiological impact on the people and the environment."

Kishida also called on TEPCO officials to curb the spread of misinformation about the plant's decommissioning plan.

The prime minister will next meet with leaders from the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Association to share the plans for the water release. The federation has previously opposed the plan.