The International Atomic Energy Agency has started meetings with the Japanese government over plans to start releasing contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

A group of experts from the organisation is in Japan to evaluate the safety of the plan, as well as the potential effects on humans and sea life from the radiation.

Fishing communities and officials in China, South Korea, and some Pacific islands have expressed concerns about the plan.

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Three United Nations experts on toxins, food, and human rights have also expressed disappointment at Japan's decision.

In a statement, they said that the release of one million tonnes of contaminated water into the marine environment "imposes considerable risks to the full enjoyment of human rights of concerned populations in and beyond the borders of Japan."

But the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company say the water will satisfy safety levels approved by the World Health Organization.

Japanese officials have also welcomed the arrival of a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the area, near the ruined nuclear plant. 

At their first meeting the IAEA safety director, Gustavo Caruso made it clear that his task-force would work in an "objective, credible and science-based manner" that would create transparency for the Japanese and international public.

As well as holding technical discussions in Tokyo, the IAEA teams will visit the site and inspect how the water is being processed.

Engineers at the stricken plant have been working for ten years to get the radioactive fuel out of three tsunami-hit reactors. The whole operation is expected to last another 30 years.

Around the plant now are lines of huge storage tanks designed to mix clean water with the contaminated radioactive cooling waters from the reactors.

This diluting process is what the Japanese government hopes will eventually result in over a million tons of water being pumped back into the sea.

In March 2011 a massive tsunami caused by an ocean floor earthquake swamped the Fukushima reactors. It was the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes, and large amounts of water contaminated with radioactive isotopes were released into the Pacific Ocean.

It is the task of the IAEA inspectors to vouch for the safety of water operations and reassure environmentalists and governments in the region that the process will not pollute the sea and marine life.