IAEA team inspects treated radioactive water release from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant

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A team of experts from the U.N. nuclear agency has inspected the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for a review of its discharge of treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific

TOKYO — A team of experts from the U.N. nuclear agency inspected the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Wednesday for a review of its discharge of treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific.

The International Atomic Energy Agency inspection was part of a four-day visit to Japan that started Tuesday, its second since the water discharge began last August despite strong protests from fishing groups and neighboring China, which has banned Japanese seafood. The IAEA team will issue a report later.

The Japanese government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, or TEPCO, say the discharges are diluted to better than international standards, and IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said in March that they were being carried out safely.

During the site visit Wednesday, the plant suffered a temporary blackout when some underground digging apparently damaged an electrical cable in an area separate from the water discharge. The blackout halted the water discharges for several hours, but the IAEA was nonetheless able to complete its inspection, according to TEPCO.

One excavation worker suffered burns and had to be treated in hospital, but the plant's cooling systems were unaffected and the water discharge resumed safely Wednesday evening, TEPCO said.

The IAEA did not immediately comment on the blackout.

A 2011 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant’s power supply and reactor cooling functions, triggering meltdowns of three reactors and causing large amounts of radioactive wastewater to