IAEA team in Japan to help prepare Fukushima water release

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — An International Atomic Energy Agency mission has arrived in Japan to help prepare for a decades-long release into the ocean of treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. The three-member team will meet with officials in Tokyo and travel to the Fukushima Daiichi plant to discuss technical details with experts. The Japanese government and the plant’s operator announced plans in April to start releasing the water in the spring of 2023 so hundreds of storage tanks at the plant can be removed to make room for other facilities needed for its decommissioning. The idea has been fiercely opposed by fishermen, residents and Japan’s neighbors, including China and South Korea.