Japan to release water from stricken Fukushima nuclear plant

(FILES) This file photo taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the Air Photo Service on March 20, 2011 shows Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Okuma, Fukushima . / AFP

Japan will release water from the stricken Fukushima power plant into the Pacific Ocean from Thursday, 12 years after one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.

China, which has already partially halted Japanese food shipments, sharply criticised the announcement, while Hong Kong and Macau said they would ban the import of “aquatic products” from 10 Japanese regions, with the latter also banning vegetable and dairy imports.

Japan insists that the gradual discharge of the more than 500 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water from the site in northeast Japan, announced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday, is safe.

The Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power…