TOKYO, April 11. /TASS/. An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts from Russia, China, South Korea, and Switzerland, will take samples of treated water from Japan’s distressed Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant before its scheduled discharge into the ocean, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

The IAEA experts will visit the facility on April 15. This will be the third such visit. The previous water sampling at Fukushima took place in February.

The IAEA said earlier this week that tritium concentration in the 12th batch of water released from Fukushima 1 was far below Japan’s allowable levels.

The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima 1 NPP in 2011 was triggered by an earthquake-induced tsunami that devastated the emergency generators which provided power to cool the reactors. This led to three nuclear meltdowns, hydrogen explosions and a massive release of radioactive material, which contaminated the surrounding area.

Today, the territory around the facility and adjacent areas are practically clean but water continues to be pumped to the damaged reactors to cool nuclear fuel fragments and radioactive water is leaked out through holes. This water is treated and is used for cooling again and is partially stored in tanks in the plant’s territory.

In 2023, the Japanese government decided to gradually treat and then discharge this water into the sea. The process is expected to take 30 to 40 years. The water is treated but still contains tritium that cannot be removed. Its level is lowered to one-fortieth of the limit set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection and the Japanese government and one-seventh of the limit set for drinking water by the World Health Organization by means of mixing treated water from the plant with sea water before discharge.