South Korean protesters call on government to act over Fukushima

(Patria) - Protesters gathered in South Korea's capital on Saturday, demanding the government take action to avoid disaster due to the release of purified radioactive water in Japan from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Reuters reports.

Japan began releasing water from the plant north of Tokyo into the sea on Thursday despite objections from fishing communities and others concerned about the environmental impact, both domestically and abroad.

"We won't immediately see disasters like radioactive materials being detected in seafood, but it seems inevitable that this release will pose a risk to the local fishing industry, and the government must find solutions," said Choi Kyoungsook from the group Korea Radiation Watch, which organized the rally.

Around 50,000 people joined the protest, according to organizers.

Japan and scientific organizations say the water, distilled after being contaminated by contact with fuel rods when the reactor was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, is safe.

The utility company responsible for the plant, Tokyo Electric Power, filters the water to remove isotopes, leaving only tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is difficult to separate. Japan's fisheries agency said on Saturday that fish tested in the waters around the plant did not contain detectable levels of tritium, the Kyodo news service reported.

South Korea has said it sees no scientific problems with the water release, but environmental activists argue that all possible impacts have not been studied. "No one can say what will happen to the marine ecosystem in the next 100 years," Choi said.

Japan says it needs to start releasing the water because storage tanks containing about 1.3 million metric tons of water, enough to fill 500 Olympic swimming pools, are filling up. The first discharge of 7,800 cubic meters, equivalent to about three Olympic swimming pools, will take place in about 17 days.