Japan to release contaminated Fukushima water into sea

Government pledges to make water safe before release, but plan is likely to raise concern.

Japan plans to release more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the ruined Fukushima nuclear power station back into the sea, the government said on Tuesday, in a decision that is likely to anger environmentalists and neighbouring countries such as South Korea. The announcement, 10 years after the nuclear power station was devastated in a tsunami triggered by one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, is also another blow to the fishing industry in Fukushima, which has opposed such a step for years. The work to release the water will begin in about two years, the government said, and the whole process is expected to take decades.