China has expressed concerns over what it called Japan's unilateral decision to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, calling on Tokyo to "rescind the wrong decision".
The remarks by Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian come in the wake of a media report that Tokyo Electric Power Company has submitted an application to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority with a detailed plan of discharging nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, Xinhua reported.
Hitting out a Tokyo, the spokesperson said Japan has constantly tried to defend the decision to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.
"In total disregard of the legitimate and reasonable concerns of the international community, the Japanese side only continues to proceed with the preparations for the discharge both policy-wise and technology-wise," Zhao said.
The Japanese utility giant Tepco is planning to release more than 1 million cubic meters of treated radioactive water -- enough to fill 500 Olympic-size swimming pools -- from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean,
The Fukushima Nuclear Plant is a disabled nuclear power plant located in Fukushima Prefecture.
The plant was dismantled due to a major earthquake in 2011.
The wastewater produced by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is stored in tanks that are set to fill up in 2022.
"In total disregard of the legitimate and reasonable concerns of the international community, the Japanese side only continues to proceed with the preparations for the discharge both policy-wise and technology-wise," Zhao said.
"Obviously, it wants to impose its wrong decision on the entire international community, and it is all the littoral countries of the Pacific Ocean that will have to take the risk for such move. The Japanese side is extremely irresponsible in doing so," Zhao added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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