"This plants the seeds for what could be decades of mistrust and contention," noted the report.

People attend a rally against Japan's radioactive wastewater dumping plan in front of the Japanese prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, July 10, 2023. (Photo/Zhang Xiaoyu, Xinhua)

New York - Japan's decision to release treated radioactive water is neither fully transparent nor adequately inclusive of important stakeholders, both in Japan and abroad, reported The New York Times (NYT) on Tuesday.

"This plants the seeds for what could be decades of mistrust and contention," noted the report.

This week Japan will begin releasing more than a million metric tons of treated radioactive water, now stored at the disabled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, into the Pacific Ocean, it said.

It further said that Japan's move is destructive to the environmental governance structure in Asia, where more than 140 nuclear power reactors are already in operation. "The most important questions here may not be the technical, scientific and radiological ones, but about the example being set," the report said.