TOKYO, June 22 (Xinhua) -- The 20th round of ocean discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was completed, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), said on Monday.

This handout photo taken and released on February 14, 2025 from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shows the removal of the top lid from J9 area tank at TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture. (File photo: AFP)

The latest release began on June 1 and ended on Saturday afternoon. A total of 7,927 tons of nuclear-tainted wastewater was discharged, containing approximately 1.3 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium, according to TEPCO.

The discharge was completed one day behind schedule after the operation was suspended twice. The interruptions, on June 10 and 13, were caused by a valve malfunction in a water storage tank and a brief lightning-induced outage affecting two power transmission circuits, respectively.

Despite concerns and opposition from the international community, Japan unilaterally launched the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi plant into the ocean in August 2023. As of the completion of the 20th round, the cumulative volume released has reached about 157,000 tons.