The choice was made a few weeks after the UN’s nuclear watchdog gave the scheme its blessing.

Since the 2011 tsunami devastated the facility, 1.34 million tonnes of water—enough to fill 500 Olympic-size swimming pools—have accumulated.

After being filtered and diluted, the water will be released after more than 30 years.

If the weather and sea conditions are suitable, authorities will ask the plant’s operator to “promptly prepare” for the disposal to begin on August 24, the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting.

It was rumored that the release would happen soon after Mr. Kishida’s visit to the plant on Sunday.

The plant, which is located on the country’s east coast, some 220 kilometers (137 miles) north-east of the capital Tokyo, will need to be decommissioned, according to the government, and discharging the water is a vital first step in that process.

For more than ten years, Japan has been collecting and storing the tainted water in tanks, but there is now little room.

Three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant were flooded in 2011 as a result of a tsunami brought on by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Since Chernobyl, the incident is recognized as the worst nuclear disaster in history.

Soon after, officials established an exclusion zone that grew as radiation escaped from the facility, forcing more than 150,000 residents to leave the region.

Fear and rage around the Fukushima nuclear waste plan
Since the Japanese government approved the plan to release water from the plant two years ago, it has raised concerns throughout Asia and the Pacific.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog approved it in July after authorities determined the effects on people and the environment would be minimal.