The leak of more than a thousand liters of radioactive water from Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in February was a
"minor incident"
, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Thursday. (IAEA).
“This is a small quantity of water, initially estimated at 5 m3 (5000 liters, editor's note), then revised to 1.5 m3, which corresponds to a splash on one side of the installation”
, Rafael Grossi told journalists during a three-day visit to Japan.
“It is a minor incident”
which
“had no consequences
,” concluded Rafael Grossi, who came to Japan to show the IAEA's support for the process of dumping more than 1.3 million m3 of water from the plant after treatment, a program started last August.
Tepco, the operator of this plant which was seriously damaged by a gigantic tsunami in 2011, reported this water leak last month before its treatment by a filtration system eliminating most of its radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium.
“Chaotic and disorderly management of those responsible”
This incident
“has nothing to do with the process of controlling water discharge from the plant”
into the ocean, Rafael Grossi further underlined.
Japan and the IAEA assure that this process, which should last until the early 2050s, is safe for the marine environment and human health.
However, China and Russia have expressed serious concerns and suspended all imports of Japanese seafood products.
“The repeated accidents in Japan in the process of treating radioactive water from the Fukushima power plant have clearly shown the chaotic and disorderly management of Tepco officials
,” the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Japan said in February. after the leak was announced.
“Compared to last year, when the water discharges started, I noticed a big change for the better
,” remarked Rafael Grossi, who met local officials and students from Fukushima on Wednesday.
“Last year there were concerns, uncertainties, doubts about the negative consequences of the process on the environment
. ”
But
“this year, the participants declared themselves satisfied that the treated water was released without any detectable trace of tritium, or with a very low presence
,” he assured.