Japan halts Fukushima water release after quake

TOKYO: The release of wastewater from Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant was suspended on Friday following an earthquake, its operator said while emphasizing that the move was precautionary.

A 5.8-magnitude jolt struck off the coast of the northeastern Fukushima region, home to the plant wrecked by a tsunami in 2011, at 00:14 a.m. Friday (1514 GMT Thursday), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

“We have confirmed remotely that there were no abnormalities on ALPS-treated water dilution/discharge facility, etc.,” Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) said on X, referring to the water release process.

“To be on the safe side, we have suspended the operations of the facilities in accordance with the pre-defined operational procedures,” it said.

Japan’s nuclear regulatory authority also said shortly after the quake that no abnormalities were detected at either the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi plant or its sister plant, Fukushima Daini.

Tepco began releasing into the Pacific last August around 540 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of wastewater that have collected at Fukushima Daiichi since the 2011 accident, one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.

The operation has been endorsed by the United Nations (UN) atomic agency, and Tepco says all radioactive elements have been filtered out except for tritium, levels of which are within safe limits.

However, China and Russia have criticized the release into the Pacific Ocean and banned Japanese seafood imports, saying that Japan is polluting the environment.

Japan experiences hundreds of earthquakes every year and the vast majority cause no damage.

There were no immediate reports of injuries from the latest jolt, and there was no tsunami warning.