Particular South Korean protest against the decision to discharge water from the Japanese nuclear power plant in Fukushima into the ocean

South Korea’s main opposition bloc, the Democratic Party (PD), today began a parliamentary filibustering campaign in the National Assembly, with all its seats taking turns occupying the semicircle’s tribune for more than 12 hours in protest against the plan of Japan to dump treated products. water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the Pacific Ocean.

The protest comes after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report this week saying the landfill plan “meets international safety standards” and will have “negligible” impacts on human health and the environment.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, met residents of Japan’s Fukushima region on Wednesday to reassure them about the government’s decision to discharge water from the damaged nuclear power plant into the sea.

The IAEA approved Japan’s plan to remove, after adequate treatment, 1.33 million tons of contaminated water stored in the power plant damaged by the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The UN nuclear agency estimated on Tuesday that the project meets international standards and will have a “negligible impact” on the population and the environment.

The Argentinian Rafael Grossi repeated this message on Wednesday in Iwaki, about 60 km from the factory, where the concern continues.

“All these graphs and complex statistics are one thing, but the reality, the reality of the people, the reality of the economy, the reality of the social mood and perceptions may be different,” he admitted to residents and local officials.

Water treatment removes most radioisotopes, with the exception of tritium.

Those responsible for the project ensure that the liquid – the discharge of which will take decades – is no different from the liquid that is disposed of in a conventional nuclear power plant.

various protests

Neighboring countries such as China, as well as environmental activists and some local residents, especially fishermen, are opposed to this plan.

Grossi defended to residents that the IAEA’s role was not to “cover up” something “bad”. The plan is “a common practice that is accepted and adhered to in many parts of the world,” he said.

During his trip, Grossi will travel to South Korea, a country where protests against the Japanese plan have taken place and where surveys show that 80% of the population is concerned about this project.

Still, a senior government official, Park Ku-yeon, said on Wednesday that they respect the IAEA’s position, but that Seoul will not give its final opinion until the independent analysis of the project they commissioned is complete.

Less complacent was China’s response, whose foreign ministry estimated that “the IAEA report is unable to lend legitimacy to the evacuation plan to the Sea of ​​Japan”.

“Japan has unilaterally decided to dump its spent nuclear water in the ocean. It minimizes its own costs and risks by allowing the rest of the world to bear the inevitable risk of nuclear contamination,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said in a statement.

The operator of the installation, TEPCO, treats and stores the mixture of groundwater, rainwater and cooling water from the installation itself on site.

TEPCO and the Japanese government want to dump the treated liquid, diluted with seawater, into the ocean through a kilometer-long pipeline.

The environmental group Greenpeace was one of the loudest voices against the plan, accusing the government of “underestimating the radiation risk”.