"Japan says seawater radioactivity below limits near Fukushima," 28 Aug 2023

Tests of seawater near Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant have not detected any radioactivity, the environment ministry said on Sunday, days after authorities began discharging into the sea treated water used to cool damaged reactors.

Japan started releasing water from the wrecked Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, sparking protests in Japan and neighbouring countries, in particular China, which banned aquatic product imports from Japan.

[...] Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) (9501.T) said on Friday seawater near the plant contained less than 10 becquerels of tritium per litre, below its self-imposed limit of 700 becquerels and far below the World Health Organization's limit of 10,000 becquerels for drinking water.

[...] Tepco is storing about 1.3 million tonnes of the contaminated water, enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, in tanks on the site.

The release of the first 7,800 cubic metres, equivalent to about three Olympic pools, will take about 17 days. It is estimated it will take about 30 years to release it all.

Japanese offices have received a barrage of telephone calls, apparently from China, complaining about the water release, the foreign ministry said, adding that it had asked the Chinese embassy in Japan to call on the public in China to remain calm.