Japan sends seawater into tunnel built for Fukushima wastewater discharge

Japan has started sending seawater into an underwater tunnel built to release nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The plant's operator,Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said the process started on Monday afternoon. While Japan's plan to discharge radioactive water into the ocean has been facing raging opposition from home and abroad, Monday's move was conducted without any early announcement.

According to TEPCO, the tunnel, the structure of which was completed in April, is expected to be filled with about 6,000 tonnes of seawater by Tuesday noon. Once filled with water, it will guide nuclear-contaminated water from the plant to a point about 1km offshore.