FASANO: Leaders of the Group of Seven major countries expressed support Friday for Japan’s release of treated water from the meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.

“We support Japan’s safe, transparent and science-based process to responsibly manage the discharge” of the treated water,” the leaders said in a joint communique adopted at the their summit in Puglia, southern Italy.

Tokyo has been working to promote understanding in the international community on the safety of the water release, which began last August, including by accepting checks by experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The treated water from the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. plant in northeastern Japan contains radioactive tritium, and it is being gradually discharged into the ocean after being diluted with a large amount of seawater.

Although tritium levels in seawater and fishery products monitored by TEPCO and the Japanese government have been well below standards set by the state, China has slammed the water release and started to ban imports of Japanese fishery products immediately after the launch of the operation. Tokyo has been calling on Beijing to lift the ban, saying that it has not shown any scientific basis for the measure.

The G-7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union.

The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station was knocked out by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

JIJI Press