TOKYO — In late 2019, the Japanese authorities convened diplomats from 22 nations for a briefing on its dealing with of greater than a million tons of wastewater from Fukushima’s crippled nuclear reactors.

Storage house was quickly operating out, the authorities defined, and so they have been contemplating a number of options. Among them was eradicating probably the most dangerous radioactive materials from the water after which steadily releasing it into the ocean. The diplomats raised no objections, the Japanese Foreign Ministry stated.

On Tuesday, when Japan formally announced that it would put the plan into action, the knives got here out. South Korea denounced it as “utterly intolerable” and summoned the Japanese ambassador. China cited “grave concerns.” Taiwan additionally raised sturdy objections.

Japan has dismissed criticism of its plan as unscientific, saying that the handled water is properly inside security requirements, and mentioning that such releases into oceans are routine around the globe. But its argument, because the response on Tuesday confirmed, leaves Tokyo a good distance from profitable its neighbors’ belief, a problem made all of the tougher by rising regional tensions on a vary of points.

While the envoys in the 2019 assembly might have stored their ideas to themselves, it’s no secret that many nations have qualms about Japan’s handling of the nuclear disaster. China and South Korea are amongst 15 nations or areas which have banned or restricted meals imports from Fukushima, regardless of the Japanese authorities’s considerable efforts to exhibit that merchandise from the realm, from rice to fish, are fit for human consumption.

International advocacy teams, like Greenpeace, have additionally criticized the federal government’s choice, arguing that it’s a cost-saving measure that ignores the potential environmental harms. The group advocates constructing extra storage amenities for the waste as a substitute.

Even at dwelling, the thought of pouring water, handled or not, from the crippled plant into the ocean is unpopular. In a nationwide ballot late final 12 months by the Japanese each day The Asahi Shimbun, 55 p.c of respondents opposed the plan.

It is even much less welcome in Fukushima itself, the place residents worry that the mere notion of danger will destroy the native fishing business, which has been hoping for a rebound after a decade of self-imposed limits.

In asserting its choice on Tuesday, the Japanese authorities stated that it may not keep away from the wastewater drawback. Officials say they spent greater than six years contemplating totally different choices for the water — presently sufficient to fill 500 Olympic-size swimming pools — earlier than selecting the present plan.

The Fukushima plant holds greater than 1.25 million tons of wastewater in greater than 1,000 tanks. The course of of cooling the three reactors broken in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami generates greater than 150 extra tons a day.

Under the plan, highly effective filters shall be used to take away all of the radioactive materials from the water besides for tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that consultants say will not be dangerous to human well being in small doses. Radiation ranges in the ensuing product, the federal government says, are decrease than these discovered in consuming water. Japan intends to start out releasing the water in 2023, in a course of that’s anticipated to take a long time.

In an effort to ease minds at dwelling, the authorities have positioned dosimeters across the prefecture to watch radiation ranges and conduct routine screenings of seafood from the area. The authorities has held public hearings on the plan in Fukushima and in Tokyo.

The authorities say that they’ve additionally mentioned the problem extensively with different nations and at worldwide boards. In a information briefing on Tuesday, a Japanese official stated that the nation had held 108 group briefings for diplomats in Japan and had met with representatives from China and South Korea on the day of the announcement to elucidate the choice.

The United States got here out in help of the plan. The International Atomic Energy Agency additionally endorsed it, saying in a assertion that it was “in line with practice globally, even though the large amount of water at the Fukushima plant makes it a unique and complex case.”

The hole between such reassurances and the strident reactions nearer to dwelling was hanging.

The outrage in the area is “quite understandable,” stated Nanako Shimizu, an affiliate professor of worldwide relations at Utsunomiya University in Japan who’s against the plan.

“If South Korea or China announced the same thing, I’m sure that the Japanese government and the vast majority of the Japanese people would also object,” she stated.

Governments in the area almost definitely really feel home stress to take a sturdy stance, stated Eunjung Lim, an affiliate professor of worldwide relations at Kongju National University in Gongju, South Korea, who specializes in Japan and South Korea.

Whether their worries are rational or not, many individuals in the area “are going to be very, very anxious about what would happen if this radioactive material came into our near seas and contaminated our resources,” she stated.

Even beneath the most effective of circumstances, Japan would discover it “really difficult to persuade its neighbors to accept this kind of decision, because obviously, it’s not our fault. It’s Japan’s fault, so why do we have to experience this kind of difficulty?” she added.

Regional tensions have made surrounding nations even much less receptive to the plan. In latest years, territorial disputes and disagreements over commerce and historic points associated to World War II have strained Japan’s relations with China and South Korea, with spillover results on authorities dialogues throughout a broad vary of points.

China warned Japan on Tuesday towards taking any choice with out additional session with the worldwide neighborhood, saying that it “reserved the right to take further action.”

In its assertion, South Korea accused Japan of taking “unilateral action” with out searching for session and understanding with South Korea, which “lies closest to Japan.”

Some in Japan consider that such complaints ought to be met with greater than scientific arguments. Shunichi Tanaka, a former chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, stated that the criticism smacked of hypocrisy.

South Korea itself operates 4 heavy-water reactors that routinely discharge water containing tritium at larger ranges than these deliberate in Fukushima, he stated in a latest interview.

“When South Korea makes claims like this, we shouldn’t be quiet, we need to properly refute them,” he stated.

But the problem Japan faces is not only on the worldwide stage. At dwelling, many are reluctant to belief the federal government or Tepco, the nuclear plant’s operator.

A parliamentary fee discovered that the meltdowns had been the outcome of a lack of oversight and of collusion between the federal government, the plant’s proprietor and regulators. And Tepco was compelled to retract assertions that it had handled most of the wastewater. In reality, it had fully processed solely about one-fifth, a drawback that arose from a failure to alter filters in the decontamination system continuously sufficient.

Ultimately, Japan is in a battle to change perceptions, whether or not of the trustworthiness of its personal authorities or of the chance posed by the handled water, stated Hirohiko Fukushima, a professor at Chuo Gakuin University specializing in native governance points.

In Fukushima, the federal government’s response to native considerations has usually come throughout as highhanded, he stated. Changing that view would require the authorities to enhance transparency round their selections and construct new relationships, he stated.

“From my perspective,” he added, “it’s probably difficult for Japan to convince foreign countries when it can’t even convince its own people.”

Choe Sang-Hun contributed reporting from Seoul. Albee Zhang contributed analysis from Shanghai.