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Japan announced on Friday that its seafood exports had resumed for the first time China Discharge of treated radioactive waste water from tsunami affected area banned Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant more than two years ago.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters that 6 metric tons (6.6 tons) of the scallops were harvested. Hokkaido This is the first shipment to that country since it was sent to China on Wednesday. Beijing All Japanese seafood banned in August 2023.
After repeated talks between the two sides, Beijing announced in June that it would ease restrictions and prepare to resume imports.
Wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi plant – debated for years domestically over concerns about damage to the reputation of the region and its local produce – had also become a major political issue between Japan and its neighbors including China and South Korea.
The ban was a major blow to Japan’s seafood industry, particularly scallop and sea cucumber exports. China was the largest overseas market for Japanese seafood.
“The government takes this development as a positive step,” Kihara said. He called on China to continue to re-register pending applications for Japanese seafood exporters.
There is a ban on seafood from Fukushima and nine surrounding prefectures, which China imposed soon after the plant melted.
Kihara said Japan would also continue to urge Beijing to lift remaining sanctions and resume imports of Japanese beef.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered three meltdowns after a major earthquake and tsunami in 2011 caused a massive leak of radioactive waste water that needed to be collected and stored in tanks.
The utility obtained Japanese government approval and support from the International Atomic Energy Agency to gradually release the water into the ocean after treatment and dilution. The move is to make room for the construction of facilities needed for the ongoing decommissioning, while preventing accidental leakage of waste water from the tanks.
Japanese officials said the impact of the waste water on the environment and humans would be negligible and a comprehensive IAEA report later confirmed that the discharge met international safety standards.