Russia's consumer protection agency said Friday it will tighten supervision of imports of Japanese fish and other marine products amid concern over the planned release into the sea of treated radioactive water from the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The announcement came after the International Atomic Energy Agency recently concluded that Japan's plan to discharge the water around this summer is "consistent" with international safety standards and would have "a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment."
The Russian agency, however, has issued instructions to ramp up sanitary and quarantine controls "to prevent water bio-resources and food produced of them in Japan, including fish, fish products, seafood, etc., with a higher concentration of radionuclides from flowing into the territory," according to the Interfax news agency.
Currently, the importation of food products from Japan is permitted if they are accompanied by a declaration by Japanese authorities that concentrations of radioactive substances are lower than applicable laws. A certificate of radioactive cesium content must be attached to the declaration, according to the news agency.
Russia and China have expressed concern over the potential environmental impact of the discharge of the water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex located on the Pacific coast, which suffered reactor core meltdowns following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
Massive amounts of radioactive water have been generated in the process of cooling melted reactor fuel at the complex.
The water is treated at a processing facility to remove most of the contaminants, except tritium, and stored in tanks on the premises. But the tanks are nearing capacity, leading to concern that the continuing buildup of water could hamper the decommissioning of the plant's reactors unless it is dumped in the sea.
Related coverage:
Japan strides for Fukushima water release as regulator OKs facilities
IAEA assures safety of water release from Fukushima disaster site
