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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,

Japan’s release of its treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean takes the focus today. The polarizing move prompted China to announce an immediate blanket ban on all aquatic products from Japan, while Hong Kong implemented import controls on Japanese seafood.

Japan maintains the water release is safe, noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also concluded that the impact it would have on people and the environment was “negligible.”

China is “highly concerned about the risk of radioactive contamination brought by… Japan’s food and agricultural products,” the customs bureau said in a statement. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the move “extremely selfish”.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee called the discharge “irresponsible” and said the city would “immediately activate” import controls on Japanese seafood from regions including capital Tokyo and Fukushima.

South Korea said in a statement that it saw no problem with the scientific or technical aspects of the plan, but did not necessarily agree with or support it.

The Japanese government signed off on the plan two years ago and it was given a green light by the U.N. nuclear watchdog last month. The discharge is a step in decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi plant after it was destroyed by a tsunami in 2011.

1. Fukushima: Why is Japan releasing water and is it safe?

Japan began pumping more than a million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Thursday, a process that will take decades to complete. The polarizing move prompted China to announce an immediate blanket ban on all aquatic products from Japan. Meanwhile, South Korea’s largest  opposition party and civic groups around the country stepped up protests against releasing water from the plant this week. Elsewhere, Hong Kong authorities will strengthen monitoring of seafood imports coming from Japan and will publish daily radiation sample results so the public can see, the city’s Permanent Secretary for Environment and Ecology Vivian Lau said. And finally, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, chairman of the Pacific Islands bloc, said that the region may not agree on the “complex” issue of the nuclear water release.

A protester holds a sign that reads “Don’t throw radiation-contaminated water into the sea”. Tokyo, Japan, August 25, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

2. Upset at climate inaction, young people gird for European court battle

Dismayed at what they see as government inaction over climate change, especially after deadly wildfires hit their country in 2017, six young people from Portugal are taking 32 European countries to court. This comes as environmental campaigners have taken a first step towards legally challenging the European Commission over a policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, saying it fell short of Europe’s “fair share” in combating climate change.

3. Hawaii officials seek families’ help identifying remains of wildfire victims

Officials in Hawaii implored residents to submit DNA samples to help in the identification of human remains found in the ashes of a fast-moving wildfire on the island of Maui that killed at least 115 people earlier this month.

4.  El Nino could doom Indonesia’s rare tropical glaciers by 2026

Two of the world’s few tropical glaciers in Indonesia are melting, their ice at risk of vanishing by 2026 or sooner, as an El Nino weather pattern lengthens the dry season in the southeast Asian nation, its geophysics agency said.

5. U.S. wildland firefighter pay threatened by Republican feud in Congress

U.S. federal wildland firefighters are facing a huge potential pay cut this autumn that lawmakers in Washington warn could cause thousands to walk off the job, due to a feud among Republicans in Congress over federal spending.

Susie Richter travels every morning to the burnt-out shell of her house in Lahaina, Hawaii, to feed her three cats, who survived the blaze that devastated Maui earlier this month. Click here or on the image for the video.

Click here for some reactions to Japan’s release of treated radioactive water from its destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant from Japanese, Chinese and Korean  professors, students and activists.

$7 trillion

Global subsidies for fossil fuels rose by $2 trillion over the past two years to reach a record $7 trillion in 2022, according to new estimates from the International Monetary Fund.

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