Fukushima radiation leaks hit deadly high as Seoul bans fish imports

PanARMENIAN.Net - South Korea is banning all fish imports from Japan's Fukushima region because of growing public concern over radiation contamination, Belfast Telegraph reported.

The worries have reportedly prompted a sharp decline in fish consumption.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said that it made the move because of insufficient information from Tokyo about what will happen in the future with contaminated water leaking from the crippled nuclear plant into the Pacific.

Seoul imposed a partial ban on Japanese fish following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that led to a meltdown at the Fukushima plant.

All fishery products from Fukushima and seven other nearby districts are now banned.

According to The Guardian, the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has radiation leaks strong enough to deliver a fatal dose within hours, Japanese authorities have revealed, as the government prepares to step in to help contain leaks of highly toxic water at the site.

On Wednesday, September 5 the country's nuclear regulation authority said radiation readings near water storage tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have increased to a new high, with emissions above the ground near one group of tanks were as high as 2,200 millisieverts [mSv] per hour – a rise of 20% from the previous high.

Earlier this week the plant's operator, Tepco, said workers had measured radiation at 1,800 mSv an hour near a storage tank. That was the previous highest reading since Tepco began installing tanks to store huge quantities of contaminated water that have built up at the plant.

An unprotected person standing close to the contaminated areas would, within hours, receive a deadly radiation dose. The nuclear regulation authority said the radiation comprised mostly beta rays that could be blocked by aluminium foil, unlike more penetrative gamma rays.

Tepco's admission in August that about 300 tonnes of radioactive groundwater is escaping into the nearby Pacific Ocean every day, and the more recent discovery of leaking storage tanks and pipes, prompted the government to inject more than £300m to contain the water crisis.