Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) Japan has been told that if the radiation levels in the treated nuclear wastewater from its disabled Fukushima power plant exceed safety standards in waters around Taiwan, it should stop the release of the water, a Taiwanese diplomat said Thursday.
The diplomat, who asked to be identified only as an official at the foreign ministry’s Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, told CNA that Taiwan’s conditions were put forth to the Japanese government by the association and the Taiwan representative office in Tokyo.
Taiwan has also made a request to put the issue on the regular agendas of the annual Taiwan-Japan dialogue on oceanic affairs and the annual discussions between Taiwan’s Atomic Energy Council (AEC) and its Japanese counterpart, the diplomat said.
The aim of that suggestion is to devise the best ways of monitoring the safety levels of the treated radioactive wastewater being released, the diplomat said.
The Japanese representative to whom that proposal was presented has agreed to forward it to the country’s government and will inform Taiwan of the response in due course, the Taiwanese diplomat said.
Meanwhile, the terms Taiwan has put forth for stopping the discharge of the treated radioactive water have been acknowledged by the Japanese government, which has said only that it understands Taiwan’s position on the issue, according to the diplomat.
The official, who spoke to CNA on condition of anonymity, was commenting on the Taiwan government’s response to a protest held Wednesday in front of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association by Taiwanese NGO against the release of the Fukushima nuclear wastewater.
Environmental activists have expressed worry about the impact on aquatic life as the wastewater enters fishing areas. With a green light from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Japanese government on Aug. 24 started discharging the treated radioactive water, despite protests in South Korea and China and the latter’s total ban on Japanese seafood products.
Meanwhile in Taiwan, the Cabinet said Wednesday that the nuclear wastewater would take a year or two before it reaches the Taiwan Strait.
The radioactive substance tritium is projected to reach its maximum concentration in nearby waters in four years time, Cabinet spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said, adding that the expected maximum level is lower than the usual concentration of tritium in the waters around Taiwan.
As such, the impact on radiation-related safety near Taiwan is expected to be “negligible,” he concluded.
The Fukushima wastewater was used to cool melted fuel rods in three nuclear reactors that were damaged during a major earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, and as such, the water is contaminated with radioactive materials, according to experts in that field.
Japan’s plan to release the treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean has been in the works for years, with the country’s environment minister saying in 2019 there were “no other options” as space had run out to contain the contaminated material, in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in the country.
Taiwan’s Atomic Energy Council said that the government had a plan to protect the public from radioactive ocean contamination by taking measures such as monitoring changes in the ocean flow and checking more frequently for radioactive residues in aquatic products.
Meanwhile, the Fisheries Agency also said that a cross-ministerial task force in Taiwan had been monitoring food safety since the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in the wake of the 2011 disaster in Japan.
In preparation for Japan’s release of the treated nuclear wastewater, Taiwan government agencies have expanded their testing of marine products, according to the agency.
