BBC Correspondent: "If You Worry About Japanese Seafood, You Can't Eat Any Seafood in the World"

"France's Tritium Discharge 450 Times Fukushima"
TEPCO to Release Total 1.34 Million Tons of Contaminated Water Over 30 Years

After the discharge of contaminated water from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan began, the avoidance of seafood has been spreading in South Korea and China, while a BBC reporter from the UK claimed it is a "nonsense concern."

Rufus Wingfield Hayes, a BBC reporter, dismissed the concerns on the 25th via X (formerly Twitter), saying, "If you are worried about eating Japanese seafood because of the Fukushima contaminated water discharge, it would be better not to eat seafood from anywhere at all."

Rupert has specialized in reporting Asian news from places such as Beijing, where he started as a correspondent in 2000, Moscow, Tokyo, the Philippines, North Korea, and the Middle East, and is currently active in Taiwan.

He shared data comparing the tritium discharge amounts from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan and nuclear power plants in China. According to this, the tritium discharged by the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Zhejiang Province, China, in 2020 was about 143 terabecquerels (T㏃). This is 6.5 times the total annual tritium discharge of 22 T㏃ planned from Fukushima Daiichi.

According to the disclosed data, the tritium discharged from the Yangjiang Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong Province in 2021 was about 112 T㏃, from the Ningde Nuclear Power Plant in Fujian Province was 102 T㏃, and from the Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant in Liaoning Province was 90 T㏃. All of these amounts exceed the tritium planned to be discharged from Fukushima's contaminated water.

Rupert mentioned that if one thinks the data he disclosed is propaganda from the Japanese government, they should look at the amount of tritium discharged by the La Hague reprocessing facility in northern France into the English Channel. He stated, "That place discharges 10,000 T㏃ annually, which is 450 times that of Fukushima."

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) diluted and discharged about 200 tons of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean at 1:03 PM on the 24th. TEPCO collected seawater samples from 10 locations within a 3 km radius of the plant on the first day of discharge and analyzed them, finding that the tritium concentration was below 10 becquerels (㏃) per liter (L), within the normal range.

The World Health Organization (WHO) guideline for tritium concentration in drinking water is 10,000 ㏃ per liter. If tritium levels exceeding 700 ㏃ per liter within 3 km of the plant or 30 ㏃ per liter at farther points are detected, the contaminated water discharge will be stopped.

TEPCO plans to monitor the marine discharge impact daily and immediately halt discharge if concentrations exceed the standard. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has opened a separate local office to observe the impact of Fukushima's contaminated water discharge on the ocean.

TEPCO plans to dilute and discharge about 460 tons of contaminated water daily into seawater. This operation will primarily continue for 17 days, discharging a total of 7,800 tons of contaminated water. TEPCO stated that it plans to discharge a total of 1.34 million tons of contaminated water over the next 30 years in this manner.

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