On Saturday, a beach in Fukushima Prefecture was reopened to the public for the first time since treated water from the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was discharged into the ocean in August last year.
During the opening ceremony of Kitaizumi Beach in the city of Minamisoma, a Shinto priest prayed for safety and local children performed a dance before the opening of the beach was announced.
The Fukushima Prefectural Government reported last month that no tritium, a radioactive substance in treated water, could be detected in seawater at eight beaches in the prefecture that are opening this year.
“I let my children play in the sea because it seems to be OK,” said a woman in her 40s who visited the beach with her family from the Fukushima city of Tamura, citing concerns about the water spill.
“The waves here are fun,” said Makoto Obama, 44, a resident of Fukushima City who also visited the beach last year with children. “I want to come back again.”
Kitaizumi Beach, known as a major surfing area, is located about 30 kilometers from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings’ Fukushima No. 1 plant.
The beach was closed in the summer following the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, which caused meltdowns at the nuclear power plant, until it reopened in 2019. Last year, some 22,800 people visited the beach, about a quarter of the number before the 2011 disaster.
