Seoul, May 14 (IANS): South Korea is considering ways to have consultations with Japan over its plan to dump radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, local media reported on Friday citing the Foreign Ministry.

An unnamed Ministry official was quoted by multiple local media as saying the South Korean government is in a position that the bilateral consultations between Seoul and Tokyo will be necessary to deliver its stance and receive additional information, separately from the verification process via the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The official told reporters that Seoul is reviewing ways to hold the bilateral consultations over the issue, Xinhua news agency reported.

Seoul is reportedly mulling ways to form a consultative body with Tokyo to let South Korean officials or experts visit the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant and figure out situations around it.

Japan announced a plan in April to discharge the tritium-laced contaminated water of over 1.25 million tonnes, stored in tanks near the Fukushima plant, into the ocean in two years.

The radioactive wastewater, accumulated at the plant since the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered a triple core meltdown, contains such materials as tritium, cesium and strontium far beyond the tolerable limits.

The radioactive wastewater, if discharged into the sea, will destroy the ecological environment of the sea, and entail serious risks to health and existence of the people in coastal areas, according to experts.

The Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after it was hit by the powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

Since then, the operator has continued to inject water into the three reactors to keep cooling melted atomic fuel there.

Radiation-contaminated water at the site has been treated through an advanced liquid processing system, but tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, cannot be removed.