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The Chinese Government has banned all imports of fish from Japan. The drastic measure was accompanied by a statement this past week to explain its reasons.
The Chinese giant has shown its “concern” after Japan made public a decision regarding the Fukushima plant, the Japanese nuclear power plant affected by the 2011 tsunami.
The reason behind the ban on eating Japanese fish
Japan began releasing treated water a few days ago after the Fukushima disaster. The water was used to cool the reactor damaged by the tsunami and prevent it from causing further damage. It was already something that the Japanese Government had announced a few months ago, but it was not until a few days ago that this water began to be poured.
China was quick to comment on the matter and canceled all fish imports with the intention that no “contaminated food” would enter its country. We must take into account the blow that this means for Japan’s fishing industry since Beijing acquires more than 40% of the export of this type of product. Fishing was already being punished after the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Until 2012, a year after the tsunami, fishing in the area was prohibited. Ten years later, barely a fifth of what was caught before the disaster has been recovered.
Is the water completely clean?
From Japan, they affirm that the process is safe. This water has been filtered to eliminate most of the radioactive material and, although it has not been possible to completely eliminate it, the levels are lower than the minimum established for the water to be drinkable. The spill plan has been approved by both the WHO and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The water will be released progressively and one kilometer from the coast. Even so, there are more than 1 million tons of water, equivalent to 540 Olympic swimming pools, that are in the reactor. Therefore, with the release speed that has been set, it will take around 30 years to return it to the sea.
Some images to calm down
But to reassure the population, Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, appeared at a lunch with his cabinet eating fish from Fukushima. The Japanese leader said they were “safe and delicious.”
In the video, you can see the president take a menu that included octopus and sea bass sashimi. Along with him, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and head of nuclear energy, Yasutoshi Nishimura, accompanies him on this atypical evening.
