‘Not Japan’s trash bin’: Anger as Fukushima water released into Pacific
Al JazeeraChina bans all aquatic imports from Japan hours after plant operator begins plan that is a crucial part of the decommissioning process. Japan has started releasing treated radioactive water from the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant, prompting China to announce a ban on all aquatic products from Japan. ‘Extremely selfish’ The plan has sparked continuing controversy despite Japan’s insistence that the process is safe and the backing of the IAEA, the United Nations’s nuclear watchdog, which approved the proposal in July, saying the impact on health and the environment would be “negligible”. “The ocean is the common property of all humanity, and forcibly starting the discharge of Fukushima’s nuclear wastewater into the ocean is an extremely selfish and irresponsible act that ignores international public interests,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Stop releasing contaminated water at once.” The Fukushima plant was devastated in March 2011 after it was overrun by a tsunami triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people in northeastern Japan.