Seawater samples taken following the release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor showed radioactivity levels well within safe limits, its operator said amid growing protests among its neighbours.
The start on Thursday of the discharge of some of the 1.34 million tonnes of water, collected on-site in the 12 years since the plant was swamped by a tsunami, prompted China to ban all Japanese seafood imports.
"We confirmed that the analysed value is equal to the calculated concentration and that the analysed value is below 1,500 bq/L," TEPCO spokesman Keisuke Matsuo told a news conference on Friday.
Becquerels per litre is a measure of radioactivity. The national safety standard is 60,000.
The results were "similar to our previous simulation and sufficiently below" the safety limit, Matsuo added.
"We will continue to conduct analysis every day over the next one month and even after that, maintain our analysis effort," he said.
Japan's environment ministry said it had collected seawater samples from 11 different locations on Friday, results of which would be released on Sunday.
The Fisheries Agency also pulled a flounder and a Gurnard fish early Friday from designated sampling spots near the pipe that released the Fukushima water.
IAEA backing
TEPCO says that the water -- more than 500 Olympic pools' worth -- from cooling the remains of three reactors has been filtered of all radioactive elements except for tritium and is safe.
This is backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said on Thursday that samples taken from the first batch of diluted water prepared for discharge showed that tritium levels were well within safe limits.
Most analysts agree although environmental pressure group Greenpeace has said that the filtration process, known as ALPS, does not work and that a vast amount of radioactivity will be released into the ocean.
Japan's move has infuriated China, which says the action contaminates the ocean, and widened a ban on aquatic produce in place for 10 Japanese prefectures to cover the whole country.
Transparency
“We will publicly disclose relevant data with great transparency and continue to seek the immediate removal of import restrictions (on Japanese products) not based on scientific evidence,” said Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan’s economy, trade and industry minister.
Nishimura urged China to “immediately stop” its ban on imports of aquatic products from Japan.
China on Thursday banned imports of seafood or aquatic products from Japan following the release of the treated nuclear water into the sea.
“Japan should rectify its selfish deed of shifting nuclear contamination risk to the world,” said Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman.
He said China and other stakeholders have the “right to take necessary measures to protect the marine environment and public health.”
China’s market regulator said Friday it will “strengthen the supervision of aquatic products and strictly prohibit merchants from purchasing or using aquatic products originating from Japan as Japan dumped nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean.”
‘Environmental terrorism’
South Korea's opposition slammed Japan over its controversial release of treated nuclear water, dubbing it “environmental terrorism.”
However, the administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol has said it did not find any “abnormalities” as Tokyo’s release of contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant was “carried out stably and as planned,” Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.
“Japan has ultimately chosen the path of an environmental war criminal,” Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung told a party meeting.
He said the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would be “recorded in history as the criminal that committed environmental terrorism against humanity.”
Accusing Yoon as “an accomplice” in Japan’s decision, the South Korean opposition leader urged Yoon to “end the silence,” saying the South Korean government should “seek compensation from Tokyo.”
The Democratic Party is mulling rallies and demonstrations over the weekend against Japan’s release of nuclear waste into the sea, which began on Thursday.
China has sharply reacted and banned the impor t of all aquatic products from Japan, while seafood markets in South Korea have worn a deserted look since Thursday.
North Korea accused Japan of “deceiving and mocking” the international community, urging Tokyo to "immediately stop” releasing treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.
Salt hoarding in China
Soon after Japan began releasing the treated radioactive water into the sea, there was a panic search for salt-related products, forcing Chinese authorities to intervene.
According to Sweden’s Lund University, “ordinary table salt can be used to measure radiation from radioactive substances, provided that it is stored in the dark.”
The authorities issued “emergency notices to regulate salt prices,” Beijing-based Global Times reported, adding market regulators warned of fines up to 1 to 5 million yuan ($137,200-$686,100) for “illegal acts that result in a significant increase in prices.”
The China National Salt Industry Group, the world’s largest salt production enterprise, on Friday called for “rational buying” of salt products.
