China Retaliates Over Fukushima Water Dump: Blocks Seafood Imports As Nobody "Wants To Eat Radioactive Salmon"

In July, the UN's nuclear watchdog gave Japan the "greenlight" to dump 'treated' radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean. And now, the world braces for the first release of radioactive water on Thursday. What could possibly go wrong?

Tokyo Electric Power Company (better known as TEPCO) will begin discharging 1.34 million tons of radioactive water that has accumulated since the 2011 tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant. It's part of a $150 billion clean-up effort after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. 

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cleared TEPCO for the Thursday release at a meeting of Cabinet ministers. 

Kishida said at the meeting that the release of the water is essential for the progress of the plant decommissioning and Fukushima prefecture's recovery from the March 11, 2011, disaster.

He said the government has done everything for now to ensure the safety, combat the reputational damage for the fisheries and to provide transparent and scientific explanation to gain understanding in and outside the country. He pledged that the government will continue the effort until the end of the release and decommissioning, which will take decades. --Bloomberg

The discharge of radioactive water will be released over three decades and has been filtered and diluted. But that hasn't stopped China and Hong Kong, some of the largest buyers of Japan's seafood exports, from issuing warnings about bans on seafood imports from 10 prefectures if the dump begins. 

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee stated this week that he had "immediately instructed" trade officials to impose import control measures to "protect Hong Kong's food safety and public health."

"The Japanese government insists on discharging nuclear wastewater into the sea.

"This unprecedented decision and practice of discharging a large amount of nuclear waste over 30 years — regardless of the inextricable risks to food safety and the irreversible pollution and damage to the marine environment — is an irresponsible imposition on others," Lee wrote in a Facebook post. 

In July, Hong Kong banned seafood imports from the Japanese regions of Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, and Saitama. Hong Kong is Japan's second-largest market, after mainland China, for seafood exports. 

Reuters spoke with Halry Yu, 42, owner of the Japanese restaurant Hassun in Hong Kong, who said more than 90% of seafood sent to the city is from Tokyo. He warned:

"If they ban imports that come via Tokyo, I think all sushi restaurants in Hong Kong will be in trouble. There are some seafood supplies from Osaka, but variety is limited."

Meanwhile, Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Chinese state-run Global Times, posted a model of the radioactive water being released that could "Pollute China and the US in 3 years" and "Pollute the whole world in 10 years." He asked: "Anyone wants to eat radioactive salmon?" 

Oddly enough, there has not been a peep about this clear and present ocean disaster from either the original Greta, or her new and improved version for mass-consumption replacement, Sophia Kianni. 

Both social media teams of Kianni and Greta are either bashing oil companies this week or promoting the world is burning -- still nothing on Japan. 

Amidst the climate alarmists, Greta and her upgraded version, Kianni (touted as Greta 2.0), seem strangely silent on Japan's attempt to destroy the oceans with radioactive water. The conspicuous absence of outrage and coverage makes some realize these kids are just puppets, something we've known all along, in which they promote nonsense climate 'news' to distract from the real disasters. 

We still remember Greta. 

Where's the coverage on Japan Greta and Greta 2.0?