Scientists test fish after Fukushima nuclear plant water release, IAEA expects ‘no change’

A team of scientists collected fish samples from the port town near Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant on Thursday (Oct 19) for the first time since the release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea.

This comes as scientists from China, South Korea and Canada have sought to assess the impact of the plant’s recent release of treated radioactive water into the sea which began in August.

The move has since drawn criticism from Beijing and prompted the country to ban all imports of marine products from Tokyo over food safety fears.

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About the samples collected

The marine samples were collected in the presence of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team while scientists from three countries observed the deliveryfresh off the boat at Hisanohama port, about 50 kilometres south of the plant which was destroyed in 2011 following an earthquake and tsunami.

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The IAEA team is in the midst of an eight-day visit, during which they also inspected the collection and processing of seawater and marine sediment near the plant. The UN nuclear watchdog has said that the samples will be sent to laboratories in each country for independent testing.

“The Japanese government has requested that we do this and one of the reasons they want us to do this is to try and strengthen confidence in the data that Japan is producing,” said Paul McGinnity, an IAEA marine radiology scientist overseeing the survey.

IAEA selected six species of fish – olive flounder, crimson sea bream, redwing searobin, Japanese jack mackerel, silver croaker and vermiculated puffer fish – because they are known to have higher levels of radioactivity than other species, said McGinnity, attributing this to the areas in which the fishes tend to move around in.

The fish will now be shipped to a Fisheries Agency laboratory in Chiba, near Tokyo where scientists from the UN nuclear watchdog will also examine them. “I can say that we don’t expect to see any change starting in the fish,” said the IAEA scientist.

However, he did note a small rise in levels of tritium, which cannot be removed from the Fukushima wastewater by the plant’s treatment system and may be detected in locations close to the discharge points, but otherwise, the levels of radioactivity are expected to be similar to those measured before the discharge last year.

ALSO READ |South Koreans protest IAEA chief's visit over Fukushima water release

Fukushima water release

On August 24, Fukushima Daiichi started releasing treated wastewater into the sea after more than a million metric tons of water, which is enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, was contaminated from contact with fuel rods at the reactor following the 2011 disaster.

While the IAEA has reviewed the safety of the wastewater release, which will be done in instalments, and said it would have negligible impact on the environment, marine life and human health, not everyone was convinced, prompting hundreds of people in Japan as well as South Korea to take to the streets in protest back in August.

(With inputs from agencies)

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