INTERNATIONAL Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said today there was no internal disagreement behind the agency’s report on Japan’s plan to discharge contaminated water from the disabled Fukushima plant.

“There is no disagreement. This is the final comprehensive report by the IAEA and no expert has come to me saying he or she disagrees on the contents,” Rafael Mariano Grossi said in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul.

He said his recent interview with Reuters that said he “hinted” at discord within the team was “misinterpreted”.

“What I can tell you is we are very confident, as I said, with the way in which this (review) was conducted with the interpretation of the norms and the standards, so it is not a matter of a report that comes in spite of disagreements,” Grossi said.

Grossi arrived in South Korea late yesterday for a three-day visit to explain the analysis of the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s safety review of Japan’s planned release of treated radioactive water from the plant. 

He was met by a group of angry protesters at Seoul’s Gimpo airport late yesterday. 

Grossi flew in from Japan following the agency’s conclusion that Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water from the plant into the sea is consistent with international safety standards.

While in Japan, Grossi delivered the IAEA’s report on Tokyo’s water release plan to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The report was seen as a blessing for Japan’s planned water discharge, expected to begin in August.

Grossi said he came to South Korea to address “technical doubts” sceptics may have about Japan’s water release plan using technology of the plant’s custom purification system, known as ALPS.

He plans to brief details of the IAEA’s report in meetings with South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Chairperson Yoo Guk-hee and Foreign Minister Park Jin later in the day.

Grossi plans to meet South Korean opposition politicians tomorrow to explain the safety of Japan’s plan.

Grossi said the report was not produced to “a Japanese taste or a Japanese convenience”.

He said results would be the same in the case South Korea commissions a review on the effects the water release would have on neighbouring countries.

“The science is one. The process that is going to take place is one,” he said.

Grossi said the World Health Organization was not involved in the report, but the IAEA followed safety parameters set by the UN health organisation. – AFP, July 8, 2023.