Japan's Fukushima Contaminated Water Discharge Countdown... Government Considers Stockpiling and Purchasing 70,000 Tons of Seafood

With the discharge of contaminated water from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant expected as early as June or July, the government has begun preparing measures to strengthen seafood safety and respond to reduced consumption. This is based on the judgment that if seafood consumption shrinks due to the contaminated water discharge, an oversupply will lead to price drops, causing direct damage to fishermen. The government plans to enhance seafood safety while minimizing fishermen's losses by increasing government stockpiles and private purchases of domestic seafood.

According to related ministries on the 25th, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is considering a plan to stockpile and privately purchase about 70,000 tons of domestic seafood this year, anticipating reduced consumption due to the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The government plans about 40,000 tons for stockpiling and 30,000 tons for private purchases, with a flexible response to consumption volume if the decline is significant or prolonged.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Contaminated water refers to the cooling water injected to cool nuclear fuel after the Fukushima nuclear accident caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. In 2019, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) estimated that the contaminated water storage tanks would become saturated and officially received approval from the Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority in July 2022 for a plan to discharge the water into the ocean. TEPCO plans to dilute the contaminated water, which contains more than 60 radioactive substances including cesium-137 and strontium, by mixing it with water to reduce the concentration of tritium (radioactive hydrogen isotope) to 1/40 of the standard level before releasing it.

The government expects the contaminated water to move eastward in the sea area off Japan, where the Kuroshio Current flowing northward in the East China Sea meets the Oyashio Current descending from the Kamchatka Peninsula, reaching Alaska in the United States first. It will then circulate through California → Hawaii → the equator → the Philippines and return to the waters around Japan and South Korea. The contaminated water is expected to reach South Korea in 4 to 5 years.

To strengthen safety against the contaminated water discharge, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has expanded the inspection targets for Japanese seafood from 100 species to all species this year and increased the number of inspections to over 8,000, a rise of more than 47% compared to 5,441 inspections last year. Additionally, the public can directly request radiation inspections for seafood, and the government will conduct weekly inspections on seafood items with many requests. Anyone can apply for radiation inspection once a week by selecting the item and region through the seafood radiation inspection bulletin board opened by the government. This aims to transparently disclose the radiation safety of seafood.

The Problem Is Consumer Sentiment Decline

The problem is that once the nuclear contaminated water discharge becomes full-scale, consumer sentiment toward seafood is expected to decline significantly. If consumer sentiment weakens, seafood supply will decrease, prices will plummet, and fishermen will suffer greater damage. The National Assembly Research Service reported that 81% of consumers reduced seafood consumption after the Fukushima nuclear accident. The government anticipates that despite emphasizing seafood safety, consumer consumption shrinkage is inevitable. A Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official said, "When Japan acknowledged the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water leak in 2013, domestic seafood consumption decreased for 6 to 10 months based on supermarket sales data," adding, "Google searches for 'seafood radiation' peaked for three months, and consumption of some seafood items directly declined."

Accordingly, the government plans to strengthen seafood stockpiling and operate private purchases flexibly. The government stockpiled species include pollock, mackerel, squid, hairtail, croaker, dried anchovies, and solar salt. If consumption shrinkage prolongs, the government intends to prioritize supplying stockpiled quantities to large supermarkets and traditional markets to start sales. Furthermore, the government plans to support seafood purchase loans at interest rates in the 2% range for 30,000 tons and is considering expanding this to over 100,000 tons depending on the species. The purchase period is expected to begin after mid-August. However, the government emphasized that although some claim the market can absorb up to a 10% decline in seafood consumption, it has not set a specific threshold for consumption decrease and will actively respond even if consumption falls below 10%.

Some have criticized the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' seafood stockpile volume as relatively small. The ministry allocated 369.3 billion won this year for responding to the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water, a 129% increase compared to the previous year. Of this, 290.4 billion won was assigned for seafood stockpiling, private purchase support, securing sales channels, and revitalizing consumption. However, considering that domestic seafood production reaches about 3.8 million tons, the stockpile target for this year (32,000 to 40,000 tons) is seen as insufficient.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.