Jordan ‘confident’ in Japan’s safe release of treated Fukushima water — FM

AMMAN — Jordan is confident that Japan will comply with international standards with the release of water from the Fukushima nuclear plant treated by the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), according to Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi. 

Yukiko Okano, Japan’s deputy director general for Press and Public Diplomacy, said that Hayashi Yoshimasa, minister for foreign affairs of Japan, met with his Jordanian counterpart Safadi during his visit to Jordan. 

The ministers discussed Japan’s release of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“Since the accident in March 2011, water has been needed to continually cool the melted fuel and fuel debris at the Fukushima Daiichi NPS,” Okano said during a press conference. 

When water comes into contact with melted fuel, fuel debris and other radioactive substances, it becomes contaminated. The contaminated water is then treated through a filtration process known as Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) to remove most of the radioactivity before being stored, according to Okano. Japan decided to discharge the ALPS-treated water into the sea, she added.

In addition to the discussions on the release of treated water, the two ministers discussed further strengthening bilateral relations across a broad spectrum of areas, including politics, economics and security. 

“Japan is fully aware of Jordan’s efforts in hosting refugees. Therefore, Japan will co-sponsor the second global refugee forum,” Okano announced.

The Government of Japan will also extend a budgetary support concessional loan titled “Electricity Sector Reform and Resilience Enhancement Programme Loan (Phase II)”, amounting to over $100 million to support Jordan’s reform programme under the Economic Modernisation Vision.

Hayashi and Zeina Toukan, minister of planning and international cooperation, signed the exchange of notes on Sunday, in the presence of Safadi, at the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

On the same occasion, Hayashi and Toukan signed the exchange of notes for a grant of $6.5 million for “The Project for Strengthening Capacity of Power System Operation”.

The new grant aims to enhance Jordan’s power system through the replacement of existing old protection relays with high performance digital protection relays in core substations, thereby providing a stable and reliable electricity supply in Jordan.

“Jordan is a cornerstone of regional peace and stability that maintains stable political governance and has traditionally had a very close relationship with Japan,” Okano said.