IAEA: Science key to Fukushima plant water release

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — An International Atomic Energy Agency official says objective, science-based monitoring is the key to safely carrying out the planned release of treated but still radioactive water at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. A three-member IAEA team is in Japan for preliminary talks and a visit to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which suffered reactor meltdowns after a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The team is preparing for years of monitoring by the IAEA of the planned water discharge into the sea, which is expected to take decades. The water was used to cool the plant’s reactors but started to leak after the disaster. The planned release has been fiercely opposed by fishermen, local residents and Japan’s neighbors.