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

TOKYO (AP) — 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 ongoing discharge of treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific.

A temporary blackout at the plant due to a mishap at a ground digging site apparently caused damage to an underground electric cable Wednesday morning and halted the treated water discharges for several hours, though the IAEA team was able to complete its inspection, according to the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings.

TEPCO said the treated water release resumed Wednesday evening and no abnormalities have been found.

The International Atomic Energy Agency team on Tuesday began a four-day review of the treated water release, its second since Japan began the discharge last August.

Japan’s government and TEPCO say the treated water is filtered and diluted by large amounts of seawater to levels much safer than international standards. Results of monitoring of seawater and marine life samples near the plant show concentrations of tritium, the only inseparable radioactive material, are far below Japan’s recommended limit, they said.