In its press release issued on Thursday, the Japanese foreign ministry called the meeting between Yoon and Kaifu a briefing session on the current status of ALPS-treated water. However, it is unclear whether Japan will grant sufficient access to the Korean inspection team. ![]() Park stressed that Korea is the first International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member state to conduct an on-site inspection of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Park Ku-yeon, a senior official at the Office for Government Policy Coordination speaks during a briefing held at the Government Complex Seoul, Friday. Yoon Hyun-soo, head of the Korean foreign ministry's bureau for climate change, energy, environment and scientific affairs, met on Friday with Atsushi Kaifu, director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's disarmament, non-proliferation and science department to discuss the issue. 15:02 | Environment & Animals The details regarding the size of the team and inspection plan will be decided next week based on working-level discussions between the foreign ministries of both nations. The inspection team is likely to be comprised of some 20 experts, but members of civic groups are unlikely to be included due to strong opposition from the Japanese government. This is in contrast to Tuesday's remarks by Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura who said that the purpose of the inspection is not to "evaluate or certify the safety of the treated water." But the official noted that collecting samples of treated water does not seem feasible. Park added that the experts will be able to examine the Advanced Liquid Process System (ALPS) which is a filtration process used to remove radioactive contamination from the water, and possibly obtain their own raw data. The experts will check that Japan's water treatment capacity and the operation of discharge facilities, as well as the information needed for our own scientific and technical analysis," Park Ku-yeon, a senior official at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said during a briefing, Friday. "The purpose of the inspection is to conduct an overall safety review of discharging the water into the ocean. ![]() Under an agreement reached during a summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on May 7, a group of local experts will travel to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on May 23 and stay for a couple days, or possibly a longer period. ![]() Seoul is seeking an on-site inspection to evaluate the safety of Japan's planned release of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, while Tokyo seems to perceive the visit more as an opportunity to brief its neighbor country before beginning the discharge process as early as this summer. Korea and Japan are apparently at odds over the exact purpose and role of a Korean inspection team, which is set to be dispatched to the tsunami-stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima later this month. Reuters-Yonhapįoreign ministries hold meeting to discuss details on experts' visit An aerial view shows the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo News on March 17, 2022.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |