TOKYO, September 11. /TASS/. Employees of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which is the operator of the damaged Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, have completed discharging the first batch of treated water into the ocean, Kyodo news agency reported.

About 7.8 thousand tons of water was discharged. TEPCO employees will inspect the equipment located at the NPP, after which they are expected to start discharging a second batch of water of the same volume by the end of September.

Besides, TEPCO plans to discharge about 31,200 tons of treated water into the ocean by the end of the current fiscal year (ending March 31, 2024), the NHK TV channel reported. This volume equals 40 liquid tanks located at the nuclear plant.

More than 1.25 million tons of water have accumulated in tanks at the Fukushima-1 NPP. This water was used to cool reactors damaged by the March 2011 tsunami.

On August 24, TEPCO began discharging the first batch of water into the ocean. The liquid, according to Tokyo, has been purified, further diluted with seawater, and generally cleared of radioactive substances. However, it still contains tritium (a radioactive isotope of hydrogen) in insignificant amounts, well below the established norms.

Tokyo's decision to discharge water from the plant drew sharp criticism from several countries, especially China. The General Administration of Customs of the PRC completely ceased imports of seafood from Japan on August 24. The IAEA reported that it had measured the level of tritium in the ocean near the plant on September 8 and noted that its concentration did not exceed established norms.