SAPPORO: Environment and other ministers of the Group of Seven major powers Sunday stopped short of welcoming Japan’s plan to release treated water from the meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

In a joint statement adopted at their two-day meeting in Sapporo, Hokkaido, the G-7 climate, energy and environment minister expressed their support for an International Atomic Energy Agency review of the planned release of the water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s power plant in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima.

The final statement does not include a passage seen in an early draft that said the ministers welcome steady progress of decommissioning work at the plant, including efforts toward the release of the treated water based on scientific evidence and consistent with the IAEA’s safety standards.

At the TEPCO plant, radioactive water keeps increasing, as the company continues cooling molten nuclear fuel with water while groundwater flows into reactor buildings damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The contaminated water is processed through purification equipment, but the equipment cannot remove tritium, a radioactive substance. TEPCO will dilute the water before releasing it into the ocean.

TEPCO hopes to start releasing the treated water this spring or summer. Japan aimed to win support for the water discharge from its G-7 partners while China and others have expressed strong concerns.

The final statement said that “we welcome the steady progress of decommissioning work at the site and Japan’s transparent efforts with (the) IAEA based on scientific evidence.”

German environment minister Steffi Lemke told a news conference after the meeting that her country respects Japan’s efforts since the 2011 nuclear disaster while it cannot welcome the release of the water.

Meanwhile, Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said his country has achieved an important outcome at the meeting because the statement is clear about the G-7 support for the IAEA review.

JIJI Press