Macao announced a ban on importing some food products from ten Japanese provinces on Tuesday, hours after Tokyo revealed that water from the Fukushima plant will begin to be released into the ocean.
The Institute of Municipal Affairs (IAM) confirmed the ban on importing fresh produce, including vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs and dairy products, from 10 regions in the north and center of the island of Honshu, including Fukushima and the capital Tokyo.
In a statement, the IAM also vowed to “strengthen inspections” at Macao stores of products imported from other regions of Japan, citing rice, seaweed and tea as examples.
The institute said the measures were aimed at “protecting the food safety and health of Macao residents.”
The measures will be applied despite the fact that the IAM has admitted that, as of Monday, it had analyzed the radiation levels in 23,137 samples of food imported from Japan, without any abnormal results.
The same statement stresses that the Macao government expressed “strong discontent” over the Japanese decision to discharge the water from the Fukushima plant “without adequately consulting neighboring countries.”
The other Chinese special administrative region, Hong Kong, also announced on Tuesday an import ban, but only on products related to the sea, including fish, shellfish, seaweed and salt, from the same 10 regions of Japan.
Mainland China has also banned the importation of some food products from ten Japanese provinces, despite the fact that the Japanese plan has been approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
On Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, told a news conference that dumping the water into the ocean “is not the safest or most prudent option.”
In late June, the Chinese Foreign Ministry commission in Macao criticized the Japanese plan, calling it irresponsible and in violation of international law.
The Japanese government announced Tuesday that treated and diluted radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be released into the ocean starting Thursday.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave the final go-ahead at a meeting of ministers involved in the plan and instructed the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), to be ready to start discharges on Thursday if weather permits. .
The release of water begins almost 12 and a half years after the March 2011 nuclear meltdown, triggered by a powerful earthquake and tsunami.
At the beginning of 2024, the Fukushima Daiichi plant should run out of space to store around 1.33 million tons of water, coming from rain, groundwater or injections necessary to cool the cores of nuclear reactors.
Both the Japanese government and TEPCO have advised that the water must be removed to prevent accidental leaks from the tanks.
Source: TSF
