Japan's industry minister Tuesday rejected a plan by the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to release low-level radioactive water into the sea without approval by local fishermen.
"It should not be allowed socially, if not legally, that they forcibly go ahead with the discharge of water without gaining an agreement from fishermen concerned," Yukio Edano, Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry, told a news briefing.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said last week that it must release some contaminated water as tanks designed to store it at the plant stricken by Japan's monster quake were expected to hit their limit by next March.
TEPCO added that the waste water -- used to cool Fukushima's nuclear reactors -- would be filtered before it was dumped to reduce the level of radioactivity. (AFP)
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