Fukushima plant official says the coming release of treated water a milestone for decommissioning

abcnews.go.com:

A top official in charge of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says an upcoming release of the treated radioactive water into sea more than 12 years after the meltdown disaster marks “a milestone."

TOKYO — A top official in charge of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says an upcoming release of treated radioactive water into the sea more than 12 years after the meltdown disaster marks “a milestone,” but it's still an initial step of the daunting task of the decades-long decommissioning process that still remain.

Junichi Matsumoto, corporate officer in charge of the treated water management for Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which operates the Fukushima plant, also pledged to carry out careful sampling, analysis and data disclosure of the water to make sure its release is safely carried out in accordance with International Atomic Energy Agency standards this month.

“The release of the ALPS-treated water into the sea for us is a major milestone for us, as well as for the decommissioning of the plant,” Matsumoto said in an interview with The Associated Press at TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo.

“In order to steadily put forward decommissioning, the ever-growing water was a pressing issue that we could not put off, and we had a sense of crisis,” said Matsumoto, also a nuclear engineering expert. “We must steadily accomplish this milestone, as we still have to tackle far more challenging and higher risk operations such as removal of melted debris and spent fuel.”

Another main task for TEPCO is to combat reputational damage from the water release, he said.

The March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and contaminating their