NNA – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered his fisheries minister to apologize on Thursday for referring to treated radioactive water being released from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as quot;contaminatedquot; and told him to retract his remark.
Fisheries minister Tetsuro Nomura was heard calling the treated radioactive water quot;contaminatedquot; when speaking to reporters earlier in the day following a meeting with Kishida.
He said his discussions with the prime minister involved quot;the evaluation of the contaminated waterquot; after its release into the Pacific.
Nomura later apologized and retracted the comment but said he would not resign over it, a local news service reported.
Japan is calling the water it is releasing into the ocean quot;ALPS treated waterquot; to differentiate it from the contaminated water held in tanks around the wrecked plant site.
ALPS stands for quot;Advanced Liquid Processing System,quot; a system aimed at removing most radioactive elements from the water except for tritium before it is released into the ocean as quot;treatedquot; water.
quot;It#39;s deeply disappointing that he made such a remark. I#39;ve instructed minister Nomura to issue an apology as well as retract what he said,quot; Kishida said on Thursday when asked for comment.
Because tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is difficult to separate from water, the Fukushima wastewater is diluted until tritium levels fall below regulatory limits.
Japan#39;s fisheries agency said tests of fish from near the plant on Saturday found no detectable levels of tritium.mdash;Reuters
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