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US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry speaks Sunday during a round table meeting with the media at a hotel in Seoul. (provided by US Embassy Seoul)

US special envoy for climate John Kerry said Sunday that the US feels “confident” about Japan’s decision to release contaminated water from Fukushima in a press conference at a hotel in downtown Seoul during his two-day visit to South Korea.

“Well, the key of this is obviously in the implementation, and the United States is confident that the Government of Japan has had very full consultations with the IAEA, that the IAEA has set up a very rigorous process,” Kerry said when asked if the US also shares concerns with South Korea.

More specifically, Kerry said the US was confident that the Japanese government would cooperate closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and therefore doesn’t intend to intervene in that process.

“What is key [to this issue] is Japan’s continued coordination with the [IAEA] as it monitors the process [of treating and releasing the contaminated water],” Kerry went on to say. “We support the nuclear safety standards and efforts of the IAEA.”

Kerry added that “the dilution process has to be carefully pursued” but noted that the US has “confidence that Japan” will keep working closely with the IAEA.

When asked whether the US is willing to help persuade Japan to provide information requested by the South Korean government, Kerry said, “We have confidence in the ability of the IAEA and Japan, and our relationship at this point with the agency.”

Kerry made clear that the US would “be concerned to make sure that the procedures are followed” but that the US wasn’t planning to get involved “in a formal way.”

Kerry’s concerns didn’t become evident until he was asked if the US is worried that the contaminated water could impact the health of Americans. “Everybody has concerns, everybody. And that’s why we have an IAEA,” Kerry said.

“We will watch and be engaged, like every country, to make certain there’s no public’s health threat […] in the implementation of this process.”

Kerry’s reaction was predetermined. It was consistent with the positions adopted by the US State Department and Secretary of State Antony Blinken shortly after the Japanese government announced its decision to discharge the contaminated water.

The US position was clarified somewhat in a statement made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Wednesday. “The water […] has been treated with the Advanced Liquid Processing System to remove harmful radionuclides such as cesium and strontium, leaving only the mildly radioactive and less harmful isotope, tritium,” the FDA said while announcing that Japan had decided the previous day to release the contaminated water.

“Tritium presents an extremely low human and animal health risk if consumed and any health risk would be further minimized with the dilution effects of discharge into the ocean,” the FDA added.

“Furthermore, FDA has no evidence that radionuclides from the Fukushima incident are present in the US food supply at levels that are unsafe or would pose a public health concern and believes this action will have no effect on the safety of foods imported from Japan and US domestic food products, including seafood caught off the US coast.”

The FDA said it had reached this conclusion based on a scientific review of “international reports” and on “sampling of foods imported from Japan and US domestic food products.”

The FDA previously concluded in a 2014 report produced in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 that there was no evidence that radionuclides originating from the Fukushima incident were present in the US food supply at a level that would present a problem to public health.

This report emphasized the potential impact on the US, highlighting the results of tests run on seafood imported to the US and the assumption that the Japanese sand lance and other sea creatures whose radiation exposure exceeded tolerable levels would stay near the Japanese coast. There was some criticism at the time that the report’s emphasis detracted from its applicability to the safety of the contaminated water at Fukushima.

But soon after, the FDA concluded that the low level of radioactivity in water seeping into the ocean from the Fukushima plant was far below the level that would threaten the environment or public health in the US, based on figures released by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In short, the US government’s position on the contaminated water at Fukushima has already been decided.

In contrast, the South Korean government has vocally expressed its opposition to releasing contaminated water from Fukushima, declaring that “there are no grounds for persuading the public about its safety.”

Since the US has shown little interest in the contaminated water issue following the 2014 report, South Korea signaled that it will launch a diplomatic campaign about Japan’s planned release of the water with the US and other neighboring countries. South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong communicated the “serious concerns of the [South Korean] government and public” during a dinner Saturday with Kerry and asked for “interest and cooperation” from the Americans.

The US’s initial response became clear in Kerry’s press conference. While the South Korean government is expected to face an uphill battle during the two years before Japan plans to start discharging the contaminated water, there’s increasing interest in the potential for joint action with other countries that oppose Japan’s plan, including China, Russia and Taiwan.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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