Japan resumes seafood exports to China two years after Fukushima wastewater release

Japan announced Friday that its seafood exports have resumed for the first time since China imposed a ban over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant more than two years ago.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters that 6 metric tons (6.6 tons) of scallops harvested in Hokkaido were shipped to China on Wednesday, the first shipment to that country since Beijing banned all Japanese seafood in August 2023.

Beijing announced in June that it would ease the ban and prepare for the resumption of imports, following repeated negotiations between the two sides.

The wastewater discharges from the Fukushima Daiichi plant — debated for years at home over concern about the reputational damage to the region and its local produce — had also become a major political issue between Japan and its neighbors, including China and South Korea.

The ban was a major blow to Japan’s seafood industry, especially scallop and sea cucumber exports. China was the biggest overseas market for Japanese seafood.

“The government takes the development as a positive move,” Kihara said as he called on China to continue to re-register pending applications for Japanese seafood exporters.

A ban remains in place for seafood from Fukushima and nine nearby prefectures, which China imposed immediately after the plant’s meltdowns.

Kihara said Japan will also continue to urge Beijing to lift the remaining bans and resume importing Japanese beef.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China will keep managing Japanese seafood imports “in strict accordance with laws and regulations to ensure food safety for the public” and that restrictions will be immediately reimposed if any risks are detected. China will also continue international and independent sampling and monitoring of the wastewater discharges.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered triple meltdowns following a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, causing massive leaks of radioactive wastewater into the basements of the reactor buildings that need to be collected and stored in tanks.

The utility won Japanese government approval and support from the International Atomic Energy Agency for the gradual release of the water into the sea after treatment and dilution. The step is to make space to build facilities needed for the ongoing decommissioning, while avoiding accidental spillage of the wastewater from the tanks.

Japanese officials said the impact of the wastewater to the environment and humans would be negligible and the IAEA comprehensive report later confirmed that the discharges meet international safety standards. MARI YAMAGUCHI, TOKYO, MDT/AP