Japan must be certain that wastewater from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant fully meets standards before it is dumped into the ocean, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.
Japan’s saury catch in the Pacific Ocean would be the first to be affected if the water is unsafe, the council said.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga earlier in the day told his Cabinet that Tokyo would release more than 1 million tonnes of wastewater from the plant into the Pacific two years from now, calling it the “most realistic” option.
Photo courtesy of the Fisheries Agency
The water would be treated to reduce all radioactive elements to acceptable levels, except for tritium, which Tokyo Electric Power says is safe in small amounts.
Seafood would not be affected if the wastewater meets the standards, COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday in response to media queries.
However, if the water does not meet standards, “it should not be released into the sea, as it would affect not only Taiwan, but all living things in the ocean,” Chen said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its concern to the Japanese government through its overseas representative, the Fisheries Agency said.
It has also asked Tokyo to follow the terms of its memorandum of understanding with Taipei on nuclear energy information exchange, which would require it to inform the government of information such as dilution and expected flow direction before the waste is discharged, the Fisheries Agency said.
The Fisheries Research Institute would analyze ocean currents, expected effects on fish and other issues, while the Food and Drug Administration would be responsible for evaluating food safety, it said.
There is a current that flows from Japan to California, then turns south and follows the equator back toward Taiwan and Japan, where it becomes the Kuroshio Current, the institute said.
If there is any question about the safety of the wastewater, Taiwan, Japan and California would be affected, it said.
Fishers from Taiwan and Japan catch saury in the northwest Pacific Ocean and in near-coastal waters, it said.
The council tests aquatic products and increases sample sizes whenever there is a potential risk, Chen said.
Government agencies have worked together to monitor food safety since the meltdown in 2011, the Fisheries Agency said, adding that it has yet to detect cesium-134 or cesium-137 linked to the event.
In the first three months of this year, the agency collected 2,122 samples, including 1,652 near-shore fish such as mackerel and dolphinfish, and 470 open-sea fish, such as Pacific saury, all of which met standards, it said.
If the risk increases, the frequency and size of samples that it tests would be increased, it said.
The council said that it would continue to monitor water quality in collaboration with the Atomic Energy Council.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition