Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority(NRA) has approved a plan to discharge treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea.

According to Japanese local media including Kyodo News on Wednesday, the watchdog gave Tokyo Electric Power Company(TEPCO) tentative approval, noting that there were no safety issues.

The NRA reportedly concluded that the water discharge will help TEPCO gain more space for future decommissioning work, and lower overall risks to the Fukushima plant.

The plan will officially be approved after the regulator gathers opinions from the public, while TEPCO will also need to get consent from related municipalities to begin the construction of water discharge facilities.

TEPCO currently plans to release the treated but still radioactive water from next spring, a proposal that has been met with fierce opposition from local fishery groups.

According to the plan, the water, treated through an advanced liquid processing system that removes radionuclides except for tritium, will be diluted with seawater and released 1 kilometer away from the power plant via an underwater pipeline.