Reactor wastewater must be dumped in Pacific – PM

Prime minister Fumio Kishida has said there can be no delay to plans to release contaminated water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, despite opposition coming from fishers and neighbouring countries.

Kishida said every effort would be made to reassure local people that disposing of the water in the Pacific Ocean was safe.

More than a million tonnes of wastewater, pumped from reactor basements and treated to remove all but one type of radioactive material, are stored at the site since a triple meltdown in 2011.