Tokyo: Japan will accept experts from China and South Korea to jointly collect samples of seawater and fishery products around where tritium-containing treated water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is being discharged into the ocean, the Environment Ministry said Wednesday.

The joint sampling will take place from next Monday to Oct. 23 and will also involve experts from Canada and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The three participating countries were selected by the IAEA.

The concentrations of radioactive substances in the samples will be analyzed by research institutes in Japan, China, South Korea and Canada, and the IAEA will compile an evaluation report in about a year.

In protest against the water discharge, China has imposed a blanket ban on imports of Japanese fishery products.

At the IAEA’s annual meeting in Vienna last month, the Chinese representative called the treated water “nuclear-contaminated water” and criticized Japan.

The joint sampling is aimed at gaining international trust in the monitoring of the Fukushima water release and preventing harmful rumors.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., the operator of the nuclear plant in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima, measures tritium levels in seawater near the water release point on a daily basis.

The Environment Ministry and the Fisheries Agency are also monitoring seawater and fishery products. No radiation levels exceeding the national safety standard have been detected.

JIJI Press