The government will conduct a maritime radiation survey in international waters off the northwestern Pacific Ocean near Japan for the first time since the Fukushima wastewater discharge.

Vice fisheries minister Park Sung-hoon said on Wednesday that the survey will take place in waters 500 to one-thousand kilometers east of the Fukushima plant, where the wastewater is estimated to reach a month after release according to state agency simulations.

Explaining that the survey was scheduled to occur between September 24 and October 11, the vice minister said that the vessel conducting the survey will now depart on Wednesday before sampling the seawater between Sunday and next Wednesday.

He added, however, that it could be postponed or canceled depending on weather conditions.

Four rounds of surveys in international waters prior to the discharge generated results far below the World Health Organization's potable water threshold.