Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the cooling water from disaster-stricken Fukushima will be released into the Pacific Ocean, despite major protests from fishermen and including China and Hong Kong, which are threatening to boycott Japanese fishing products.
The cooling water from the reactors has been stored since the 2011 accident that struck the nuclear power plant at the town of Okuma following massive earthquakes and the accompanying tsunami.
The water is filtered to remove almost all radioactivity and has been stored in tanks and basins that are now beginning to overflow. The emptying is scheduled to start on Thursday.