Japan says it will begin releasing treated radioactive water from its destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday despite opposition to the plan from China and local fishing communities. The plant was severely damaged in the 2011 tsunami, and the plan to dump its wastewater was approved by the Japanese government two years ago in what it sees as a vital stage of decommissioning the site. The UN’s nuclear watchdog backed the plan following an inspection last month that found that the effect of the radioactive water would be “negligible” in terms of its impact on the environment and humans. But concerns remain in other countries, including South Korea and China. “The ocean is the common property of all humankind, not a place for Japan to arbitrarily dump nuclear-contaminated water,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.
