Photo/Illutration Tanks hold treated radioactive water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Tokyo Electric Power Co. may have to pay massive compensation for damaging the sales of Japanese seafood due to discharging treated radioactive water into the ocean--if China’s import ban stays in place.

The operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant began accepting applications for compensation from fishermen and other businesses on Oct. 2.

TEPCO originally expected that negative publicity from the water release could impact the sales of marine products from areas close to the plant.

However, products from around the nation have been affected since Beijing imposed the blanket ban on Japanese seafood on Aug. 24, when the utility began dumping filtered and diluted wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

China is the largest overseas market for Japanese seafood.

Exports in August dived 75.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.18 billion yen ($14.56 million). The figure is expected to have declined further in September.

Prices of scallops in Hokkaido and three other prefectures plunged 11 to 27 percent since China imposed the ban, according to a survey by the Fisheries Agency.

Scallops accounted for nearly 60 percent of Japan’s seafood exports to China last year.

The town of Saroma in Hokkaido is known for scallop production.

Yoshiteru Abe, head of the Saroma fisheries cooperative association, said on Sept. 21 that he plans to seek compensation from TEPCO, since the prices of shell-on scallops have fallen to 200 to 210 yen per kilogram, down from 250 yen last year.

Abe visited the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries the same day alongside chiefs of nearby fisheries associations in Hokkaido to request financial assistance.

Asked about the anticipated total amount of compensation, Takahiko Yoshida, a TEPCO managing executive officer, told a news conference on Sept. 29 that he cannot provide a figure at the moment.

“All we can do is to deal with compensation claims while confirming them one by one,” Yoshida said.

TEPCO announced compensation standards for fisheries and other industries in December.

A prefecture will be recognized as “affected by reputational damage” if the average wholesale price of all seafood species caught in the prefecture fell more than--or rose less than--the national average from the base year of 2022.

In “affected” prefectures, the amount of damage will be calculated for individual business operators. The damage will be determined by comparing the wholesale price of a specific seafood species post water release to its price in 2022.

Even in prefectures where the wholesale price fell less than the national average, TEPCO may decide to pay compensation after confirming details of damage suffered by a business operator.

(This article was written by Kenji Izawa and Hironori Kato.)

Related News