Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Sunday, ahead of a final decision on when to begin discharging nuclear-contaminated water from the site into the sea, Japanese media reported.

Kishida inspected the nuclear-contaminated water drainage equipment and held talks with the management team of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), according to Nikkei.

Considering the safety of the discharge plan and the reputational damage it caused to Fukushima, Kishida told the press after Sunday's inspection that the specific date for the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water will be decided by the Japanese government after broad discussions.

The prime minster said he will meet with senior members of organizations representing fishermen in Japan to assert the safety of the treated water and seek their understanding.

Regarding international concerns about the safety of discharging contaminated water into the sea, Kishida said he would introduce the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on the discharge plan to all parties to seek understanding.

In addition, Kishida stated that more measures will be taken to reduce the reputational damage of Fukushima caused by the discharge plan, while the plan will be continued.

Japan plans to release into the ocean 500 Olympic-size swimming pools worth of water from the plant wrecked by a tsunami on March 11, 2011.

The plan, which will involve more than a million tonnes of treated water being pumped into the Pacific from the nuclear plant owned by TEPCO, has been criticized by countries including China and South Korea, and is also strongly opposed by some citizens' groups inside Japan.

"The government is at the final stage of when it has to make a decision," Kishida said on Friday in the U.S. following a trilateral meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden.

Japan has said it will remove most radioactive elements from the water except for tritium, a hydrogen isotope that must be diluted because it is difficult to filter.