Photo/Illutration A fish market in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on April 14, 2022 (Keitaro Fukuchi)

The Fisheries Agency will conduct daily checks of tritium levels in fish caught off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture after treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is released into the ocean.

The agency announced on Aug. 10 that the results of the checks would be released two days later.

The study will continue for about a month after the start of the discharge of water treated after being contaminated with radiation within the plant grounds.

The government plans to begin releasing the water, which has accumulated at the crippled plant for more than a decade and is nearing the capacity of storage tanks on the site, later this summer. 

China has been especially virulent in opposing the discharge of the treated water due to environmental concerns.

The results of the daily checks will be released in Japanese and English by the Fisheries Agency.

Seafood caught in two locations within a 10-kilometer radius of the Fukushima No. 1 plant will be subject to the study.

The agency has the ability to check two samples per day and it had planned to conduct such checks for a total of 90 days in the current fiscal year.

Japan has no standards for tritium levels in food because the radionuclide does not accumulate or become concentrated in the body even if ingested through food.

However, economy ministry officials have said they could suspend the discharge of the treated water if unusual concentrations of tritium are detected in the seafood.

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