IAEA Conducts First Seafood Monitoring After Contaminated Water Discharge... South Korea, China, and Japan Also Participate

Sampling Fish Caught Near Nuclear Power Plant Waters
Participating Countries Analyze Individually, IAEA Compiles Results

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and South Korea, China, and Japan conducted the first monitoring of seafood in the waters near the nuclear power plant following Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean.

On the 19th, NHK reported that experts dispatched from the IAEA, the Japanese government, South Korea, China, and Canada visited Hisanohama Port in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, to collect fish samples. The location is 30 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

After observing the fish-catching process, the experts secured 70 kg each of six types of fish, including flatfish and horse mackerel, as samples for radioactive material testing, packing them in containers filled with ice.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The collected samples were transported to a research institute in Chiba Prefecture on the same day and are scheduled to be sent to each country. The analysis will be conducted independently by the respective countries. The IAEA plans to compile and publish a report based on the individual analysis results from each country.

Additionally, the IAEA will collect samples of seawater, sediment, and fish from the waters near Fukushima until the 23rd to verify changes in the marine environment after the discharge and to check whether TEPCO complies with safety standards.

This investigation is part of the Fukushima seafood monitoring program that the IAEA has been conducting with the Japanese government since 2015. Since the time of the contaminated water discharge, other countries have also participated. South Korea dispatched experts from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS).

Japanese media highlighted China's dispatch of experts, noting that this is the first time China has participated in monitoring related to Fukushima's contaminated water. Jiji Press reported, "It is the first time that China, which strongly opposes the discharge of Fukushima contaminated water, has participated in the investigation."

Riki Takase, Fisheries Supervisory Officer of the Japan Fisheries Agency, told NHK, "I am confident that even if each country conducts its own analysis, it will provide assurance that inspections within Japan are being conducted appropriately."