Japan started releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, a polarising move that prompted China to announce an immediate blanket ban on all aquatic products from Japan.

China is “highly concerned about the risk of radioactive contamination brought by… Japan’s food and agricultural products,” the customs bureau said in a statement.

The Japanese government signed off on the plan two years ago and it was given a green light by the U.N. nuclear watchdog last month. The discharge is a key step in decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi plant after it was destroyed by a tsunami in 2011.

        • Fosheze@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          They weren’t left with much of a choice. They would hail the illegal fishing boats and the boats would just book it back to international waters, wait for the Argentinian boats to leave then immediately go back and start fishing again. These fishing boats were turning off their transponders right before crossing into Argentinian waters, it’s isn’t like they didn’t know exactly what they were doing. If you continously knowingly and deliberately violate a countries borders then you should really expect to be shot at.

    • Mindlight@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      There is a risk I’m wrong but… I’m pretty sure that if something is released into the Japanese part of the Pacific ocean it’s not contained within the Japanese borders…