China News Service, Beijing, November 21 (Reporter Guo Chaokai) Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning hosted a regular press conference on November 21.
A reporter asked: According to reports, the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a press release on November 18 stating that the agency’s technical working group will visit Japan from the 14th to the 18th, and will conduct on-site inspections of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to review the revised version submitted by Tokyo Electric Power Company. Regarding the plan for discharging nuclear contaminated water into the sea and the construction of discharge facilities, the agency will release the inspection and assessment report within three months, and will release the final safety assessment report before Japan starts discharging next year. What is China's comment on this?
Mao Ning: I have noticed relevant reports.
China supports the International Atomic Energy Agency and its technical working group in their work on the disposal of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water, and hopes that the working group will uphold the principles of objectivity, impartiality and science, strictly implement the agency's nuclear safety standards, and ensure the absolute safety of nuclear-contaminated water disposal.
The working group should issue a final safety assessment report based on the expert review and actual work needs.
In order to ensure the high quality and credibility of the report, the time limit for the release of the report should not be artificially set, and the Japanese side should provide close cooperation.
It should be pointed out that the Agency's technical working group did not evaluate the nuclear-contaminated water disposal plan other than the sea discharge, which made it impossible for the Agency to fully evaluate the best plan for nuclear-contaminated water disposal.
China's support for the work of the working group does not mean that we agree with Japan's wrong decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean.
China hopes that the Japanese side will seriously respond to the concerns of all parties, and find a proper way to dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a responsible manner, instead of blindly pushing the sea discharge plan.
Prior to this, the Japanese side shall not activate nuclear-contaminated water without authorization.
(Finish)