Twelve years ago, in 2011, a massive earthquake triggered giant tsunamis that damaged three nuclear reactors of the Fukushima power plant in Japan, causing meltdowns on a grand scale. The reactors had to be cooled down with 1.3 million metric tons of seawater, the equivalent of about 500 Olympic-size swimming pools, that were afterward placed in 1,000 huge sealed cylindrical containers.

The dilemma of what to do with the nuclear wastewater forever stored in Fukushima haunted Japan.

Today, she has started dumping the wastewater diluted with seawater into the Pacific Ocean amid protests by China, South Korea, the Philippines and Hongkong, including Japanese fishermen and consumers, according to Vantage of Firstpost.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida formally announced to the media during his visit to the Fukushima site.

He said the Nuclear Regulatory Authority and the United Nations approved the move, concluding that the impact would be "negligible."

Protesters, however, argued that the approval by these two agencies was questionable since it was done unilaterally, in secret, and not shared with the international community.

The protesters cited the need for more investigation and evidence that the dumping would not really affect the environment in the long term. Japan claims the wastewater has been "treated."

Can you treat radioactive wastewater? That is a scientific question that Japan has to explain. The Fukushima nuclear wastewater must be tested in the presence of other nations before its release into the ocean.

Japan planned the release unilaterally — no transparency, no consensus. They never made an effort for international awareness and inspection, fearing protests from scientists who may derail their plans.

First to voice a protest was China's spokesman, Wang Wenbin, who branded the move as "selfish and irresponsible."

The reason Japan decided to release was they needed "space" for more wastewater that still needed to be removed to decommission the plant thoroughly.