| Seawater samples taken from near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, March 11, 2011, are seen at Mothers' Radiation Lab Fukushima, known as a citizens' testing center Tarachine, in Iwaki, northeastern Japan, Aug. 25. AP-Yonhap |
Seawater samples taken following the release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors showed radioactivity levels well within safe limits, power plant's operator TEPCO said Friday.
The start of the discharge, Thursday, of some of the 1.34 million tons 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.
TEPCO took what it called rapid tests Thursday afternoon after the release into the Pacific Ocean began, and it said Friday that the results showed that radioactivity levels were within safe limits.
"We confirmed that the analyzed value is equal to the calculated concentration, and that the analyzed value is below 1,500 bq/L," TEPCO spokesman Keisuke Matsuo told a news conference.
Becquerels per liter 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, to maintain our analysis effort," he said.
"By providing swift, easy-to-understand explanations we hope to dispel various concerns."
Japan's environment ministry said it had collected seawater samples from 11 different locations Friday, the results of which would be released Sunday.
The Fisheries Agency also caught a flounder and a Gurnard fish early Friday from designated sampling spots near the pipe that released the Fukushima water.
"By publishing those data every day in a highly transparent fashion, we will demonstrate our actions based on scientific evidence," said Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of nuclear policies.
| A staff member prepares to test a sample of soil taken near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, March 11, 2011, at Mothers' Radiation Lab Fukushima, known as citizens' testing center Tarachine, in Iwaki, northeastern Japan, Aug. 25. AP-Yonhap |
IAEA backing
TEPCO says that the water ― more than 500 Olympic pools' worth ― from cooling the remains of three reactors has been filtered to remove all radioactive elements except for tritium, and is safe.
This is backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said Thursday that samples taken from the first batch of diluted water prepared for discharge showed that tritium levels were well within safe limits.
"IAEA experts are there on the ground to serve as the eyes of the international community and ensure that the discharge is being carried out as planned, consistent with IAEA safety standards," said the chief of the UN body, Rafael Grossi, in a statement.
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 infuriated China, which said the action contaminated the ocean, and widened a ban on aquatic produce in place for 10 Japanese prefectures to cover the whole country.
Nishimura echoed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Friday, in urging China, Japan's biggest market for seafood, to reverse the ban.
"The Japanese government... will strongly demand baseless regulations to be immediately terminated," Nishimura said.
South Korea's government, which is trying to improve relations with Japan in order to counter China, has endorsed the water release although some ordinary people are alarmed.
A U.S. State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said Washington "is satisfied with Japan's safe, transparent, and science-based process." (AFP)