Fish auction prices at a port south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have dropped amid uncertainty about how consumers may respond a day after treated and diluted radioactive wastewater began to be released into the sea.
An angler fishes at Onahama Port in Iwaki, northeastern Japan, 68 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, damaged by a massive March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. Fish auction prices at a port south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Friday somehow dipped amid uncertainty about how consumers may respond a day after release to sea of treated and diluted radioactive wastewater began despite protests at home and in neighboring countries.
A citizens' radiation testing center said that it is getting inquiries and that more people may bring in food, water and other samples as radiation data is now a key barometer to decide what to eat. Some wastewater at the plant is recycled as coolant after treatment, and the rest is stored in around 1,000 tanks, which are filled to 98% of their 1.37 million-ton capacity. The tanks cover much of the complex and must be cleared out to make room for new facilities needed for the decommissioning process, officials say.
Fukushima’s current catch already is only about one-fifth its pre-disaster level due to a decline in the number of fishermen and decreases in catch sizes.to support fisheries and seafood processing and combat potential reputation damage Fish prices largely depend on the sentiment of wholesalers and consumers in the Tokyo region, where large portions of Fukushima catch goes.
At Mother’s Radiation Lab Fukushima in Iwaki, a citizens’ testing center known as Tarachine, tests were being conducted on water samples, including on tritium levels for seawater that the lab collected from just off the Fukushima Daiichi plant before the release. “It's very difficult to make everyone feel safe. ... That's why we conduct testing so we can visualize data on food from different places and help people have more options to make a decision," she said.
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