The decision on the timing of the release of contaminated water from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant will reportedly be made by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Japan’s Sankei Shimbun daily quoted a senior official from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Tuesday as saying that Kishida will make a final decision once the construction of a discharge tunnel is completed and a final report by the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) is published.

The Japanese government earlier said that it would start releasing contaminated water this summer, but it has not announced the specific timing yet.

Japan effectively completed the construction of a tunnel to carry the treated water out to the sea on Monday after recovering an excavator used to dig the tunnel from the ocean and covering the drainage outlets.

Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun daily said that the construction will be officially completed when the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, wraps up the trial operation of the facility, which started on June 12.

Final inspections of the facilities by Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority will begin on Wednesday, and IAEA Director General Raphael Grossi will reportedly visit Japan in early July to personally deliver the agency’s report assessing the safety of the release.