Global News Desk:
International Atomic Energy
Agency head Rafael Grossi stated on Thursday that the recent leak at Japan's
Fukushima nuclear plant was deemed "a minor incident," unassociated
with the discharge of treated wastewater.
Plant operator TEPCO reported the
leak in early February at a part of the site that processes radioactive water. It
said no sign of contamination had been detected outside the plant, which
suffered a devastating meltdown in 2011.
Grossi, on a three-day tour of
Japan that included a visit to Fukushima, described the incident as "a
splash from one side of the facility".
"It concerns a small amount
of water, initially estimated at five cubic metres (5,000 litres), then revised
to 1.5 cubic metres of water," he told reporters. "It was a minor
incident" of the kind that can take place on a big industrial site, the
IAEA chief said, adding that there were "no consequences".
The event "has nothing to do
with the process of the... discharge of water from the plant", he said --
referring to the gradual release of 540 Olympic swimming pools' worth of
treated and diluted wastewater which began in August.
"This was an incident in another
place, a different part of the facility," Grossi added. The water release
has been endorsed by the IAEA, and TEPCO says all radioactive elements have
been filtered out except for tritium, levels of which are within safe limits.
But China and Russia have
criticised the release into the Pacific Ocean and banned Japanese seafood
imports, saying that Japan is polluting the environment.
"Compared to last year, when
discharges of water began, I saw a big change for the better" in
discussions with officials and students in the Fukushima region, Grossi said.
"Last year, there was
concern, uncertainty, there was doubt about whether the process would have
consequences negative for the environment," he said. "This year
(there) were expressions of satisfaction" that "the treated water has
been discharged without any traceable presence of, or very, very low presence
of tritium."
The Fukushima plant was wrecked
by a huge earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that killed 18,000 people.
It was one of the worst nuclear
disasters in history and the clean-up operation is expected to take decades,
with the most dangerous part -- removing radioactive fuel and rubble from three
stricken reactors -- yet to begin.