Public urged to remain calm over Fukushima treated water release

PETALING JAYA: The public is urged to remain calm over reports that Japan will begin releasing treated water from Fukushima into the ocean this Thursday (Aug 24).

Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister Chan Foong Hin said there was currently no live marine fish imported from Japan, according to the Fisheries Department.

“For any non-live fishery products from Japan, the Ministry is currently working closely with the Health Ministry and other relevant authorities such as Quarantine and Inspection Services Malaysia (MAQIS) and the Malaysia Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) to monitor food safety issues, including checks on health certifications and radiation during post import,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (Aug 23).

On Tuesday (Aug 22), Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the country would start releasing more than one million metric tonnes of treated water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Japan has said that the release of treated water from the plant operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is “consistent with international safety standards”.

A report submitted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to Kishida on July 4 concluded that the planned release of treated water into the sea from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was “consistent with international safety standards”, and added that the impact of the release on people and the environment would be “negligible”.

Water contaminated by radiation at Fukushima Daiichi was cleaned by the multi-nuclide removal Advanced Liquid Processing System to remove as many radioactive elements as possible.

However, tritium, which was a radioactive form of hydrogen, could not be removed through the process above, resulting in Tepco having to store the treated water in tanks at the plant, which had nearly reached full capacity.

Japan decided in April 2021 to release the water into the sea by diluting the concentration of tritium in the treated water to less than one-fortieth, a level that met the national standard, before releasing that water one kilometer offshore from the nuclear power plant, into the North Pacific Ocean.