IAEA chief vows close consultations with South Korea over Fukushima water release plan

The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog has vowed to continue close consultations with South Korea and other nations over Japan's plan to discharge radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the pledge during his meeting with Ham Sang-wook, Seoul's deputy foreign minister for multilateral affairs, in Vienna on Friday, according to the ministry.

Earlier this month, Japan finalised its plans to start discharging the radioactive water into the sea in 2023 in what is expected to be a decades-long process, as all storage tanks at the Fukushima plant are expected to be full as early as the fall of 2022. "Ham delivered Seoul's concerns over Japan's decision, and asked for the agency's constructive role to resolve the issue," the ministry said in a release.


"Grossi vowed to play his agency's active role in monitoring the contaminated water processing procedures, and to continue to maintain close communications with South Korea and other nations concerned," it added.