The NRA plans to make a decision on final approval after a one-month public comment period, an NRA official was quoted as saying by local media.
In April 2021 Japan announced its policy to gradually discharge more than 1.25 million cubic metres of treated water into the sea, subject to approval from the NRA, an independent regulatory body.
It asked for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s assistance to help ensure the project’s implementation. Japanese authorities said there was no practical alternative to releasing the water as storage space ran out. They said there was no risk to human health and that operating nuclear plants around the world release similar water every day.
In part used to cool melted nuclear fuel at Fukushima-Daiichi, which has been shut down since a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the water has been treated through a filtration process known as advanced liquid processing system Alps to reduce the radioactivity before being stored in tanks.
Space for the tanks is running out and the long-term management of the treated water is necessary to allow for the further decommissioning of the Fukushima-Daiichi station.
Five disposal methods for the water were being considered by the government: controlled discharge into the sea, ground injection, discharge as steam, discharge as hydrogen, and solidification for underground burial.
Japan intends to release the water with levels of tritium – the only radionuclide that cannot be removed through this treatment – well below national regulatory limits and World Health Organisation standards for drinking water.
Earlier this month the IAEA said in a report that Japan had made significant progress as it prepares to discharge the treated water from Fukushima-Daiichi.