The construction of facilities needed to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean is set to begin at full scale as early as Thursday.

Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun said on Wednesday that local governments affiliated with the power plant approved the construction plan during a meeting on Tuesday.

As a result, the Tokyo Electric Power Company is set to begin construction as early as Thursday on an undersea tunnel which will be used to release the treated water into the ocean some one kilometer away from the plant.

Last month, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority approved plans to release the water used to cool the plant’s reactors in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster in 2011, deeming the water, which contains traces of tritium, safe.

Shortly after the plans were approved, Seoul and Beijing conveyed to Tokyo their concerns about the planned water release.

The Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company plan to begin releasing the treated water from next spring, although it has faced strong protests from local fishermen.