FUKUSHIMA: Although treated water released from Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) Holdings’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been confirmed safe, some countries and regions still restrict imports of all Japanese marine products.
China, which refers to the treated water as “nuclear contaminated water”, banned imports of Japanese marine products in August 2023.
It announced in June last year that it would resume some imports of marine products from Japan, excluding Tokyo, Fukushima and eight other prefectures.
However, the decision was effectively suspended in November in the same year following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on a possible Taiwan contingency.
Russia continues completely banning imports of Japanese marine products.
Import bans are believed to have caused prices of the area’s marine products to remain low, and Tepco is compensating the resulting losses, calling them “damage caused by harmful rumours”.
Compensation is made based on the differences between trading prices before and after the release of the treated water.
Tepco said it paid a total of 96.7 billion yen for about 1,100 claims as of Aug 5.
Those in the fishing industry said most damages claims are filed by those outside Fukushima Prefecture because fishermen in the prefecture separately receive allowances for temporarily closing their business.
Abalones from Iwate Prefecture had an average wholesale price of about 120,000 yen to 140,000 yen per 10 kg before the release of the treated water. However, the purchase price remains low as China-bound exports have been suspended. Last year, the price was as low as 60,000 yen per 10 kg. — The Japan News/ANN
