Japan Minister Vows Efforts over Treated Water Release

Minamisoma, Fukushima Pref., Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, during a visit to Fukushima Prefecture on Sunday, pledged efforts to deal with misinformation regarding the release of tritium-containing treated water into the sea from a crippled nuclear plant.

Nishimura visited four coastal municipalities in the prefecture--the city of Minamisoma and the towns of Okuma, Futaba and Namie.

On reputational damage from the release of the treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station in the northeastern Japan prefecture, Nishimura told reporters in Minamisoma, "The industry ministry has secured necessary funds, and I'm responsible for dealing with the matter."

TEPCO started to release the water on Aug. 24. In the first round of the operations, which ended earlier this month, some 7,800 tons of treated water was discharged into the Pacific Ocean after being diluted with seawater to substantially reduce the concentration of tritium, a radioactive substance.

"We will continue all-out efforts to ensure the safety" of the operations, Nishimura said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]