Japan and China have agreed to end their argument over the Japan China Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s cleaned toxic wastewater going into the Pacific Ocean. The deal also talks about China’s decision to stop importing Japanese fish after the release.
Friday, Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, said that the two countries had hit a “certain level of mutual understanding.” As a result of this agreement, China will start to ease its restrictions on importing fish and will also help monitor the cleaned wastewater. The UN’s Atomic Energy Agency will be in charge of the tracking.
Japan started letting toxic water out of the Fukushima plant after it had been cleaned up on August 24, 2023. A nuclear accident happened at the Japan China Fukushima plant in 2011, and this release is part of the work to shut down the site. However, China reacted to the news by blocking Japanese seafood imports, saying they were worried about the safety of their fishing industry and seaside towns. This ban really hurt the people who sell fish in Japan.
Kishida, the prime minister, said that the water release is safe and has been checked by international standards. He also said he was hopeful that China would soon start buying Japanese seafood again as long as it met Chinese safety standards.
China had earlier said that the water flow was bad for the environment and that it should be handled with more care. Mao Ning, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said that the deal with Japan was a step in the right direction. She said the agreement could show the rest of the world how to safely and successfully deal with water that has been polluted by nuclear waste.
China opposes the release because of political issues between the two countries that go back to Japan’s rule of China in the early 1900s. Even with these problems, the deal is a big step forward in diplomacy efforts.
Japan hopes that this agreement will make other places, like Hong Kong, Macau, and Russia, think again about their bans on Japanese fish. Hong Kong buys a lot of Japanese seafood, but since the Fukushima leak started, it has stopped importing seafood from some parts of Japan.
From the start, Japan has said that the release follows all international safety rules and is being watched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The government has said that China’s ban on fish is not based on science.
Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the IAEA, and Prime Minister Kishida talked before the statement. They both agreed to add Chinese scientists to the present tracking scheme. The goal of this teamwork is to make sure that the release and tracking of the cleaned water are both open and clear.
The earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed Fukushima Daiichi’s cooling system. This caused reactors to melt down and toxic water to build up. The plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Holdings Co. (TEPCO), has been shutting it down. People think that the cleaned water needs to be let out so that more disposal work can begin.
Japan is still dedicated to openness. They share all of their water tracking data with the public and work together with other countries to make sure everyone is safe.
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