Japan says no radioactivity found in Fukushima fish

According to the Kyodo news service, the Japanese fisheries agency stated on Saturday that fish examined in the waters around the shattered Fukushima nuclear facility did not contain measurable quantities of the radioactive isotope tritium.

When plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) (9501.T) started discharging treated radioactive water into the Pacific on Thursday, nets were already set up. This enraged fishermen and many other people in Japan, alarmed consumers in surrounding nations, and led China to prohibit Japanese aquatic items.

Daily test results announcements are planned by the agency. Tepco reported on Friday that the tritium concentration in saltwater around the plant was less than 10 becquerels per litre, much below the self-imposed limit of 700 becquerels and much lower than the 10,000 becquerel limit for drinking water set by the World Health Organisation.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration decided on Tuesday to permit the release of 1.3 million tonnes of treated water from the Fukushima plant, which was wrecked by a tsunami in 2011, because Tepco was running out of storage capacity after much deliberation.

The utility removes the majority of radioactive components from the water, but it dilutes tritium, a difficult to separate hydrogen isotope from water.

(With agency inputs)