China Retaliates Over Fukushima Water Dump: Blocks Seafood Imports As Nobody "Wants To Eat Radioactive Salmon"

In July, the UN's nuclear watchdog gave Japan the "greenlight" to dump 'treated' radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean. And now, the world braces for the first release of radioactive water on Thursday. What could possibly go wrong?

Tokyo Electric Power Company (better known as TEPCO) will begin discharging 1.34 million tons of radioactive water that has accumulated since the 2011 tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant. It's part of a $150 billion clean-up effort after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cleared TEPCO for the Thursday release at a meeting of Cabinet ministers.

Kishida said at the meeting that the release of the water is essential for the progress of the plant decommissioning and Fukushima prefecture's recovery from the March 11, 2011, disaster.

He said the government has done everything for now to ensure the safety, combat the reputational damage for the fisheries and to provide transparent and scientific explanation to gain understanding in and outside the country. He pledged that the government will continue the effort until the end of the release and decommissioning, which will take decades. --Bloomberg

The discharge of radioactive water will be released over three decades and has been filtered and diluted. But that hasn't stopped China and Hong Kong, some of the largest buyers of Japan's seafood exports, from issuing warnings about bans on seafood imports from 10 prefectures if the dump begins.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee stated this week that he had "immediately instructed" trade officials to impose import control measures to "protect Hong Kong's food safety and public health."

"The Japanese government insists on discharging nuclear wastewater into the sea.

"This unprecedented decision and practice of discharging a large amount of nuclear waste over 30 years --- regardless of the inextricable risks to food safety and the irreversible pollution and damage to the marine environment — is an irresponsible imposition on others," Lee wrote in a Facebook post. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/anyone-want-eat-radioactive-salmon-japan-set-dump-toxic-fukushima-water-ocean