Released wastewater safe, Fukushima N-plant operator says amid growing anger

Seawater samples taken following the release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor showed radioactivity levels well within safe limits, its operator said amid growing protests among its neighbours.

The start on Thursday of the discharge of some of the 1.34 million tonnes of water, collected on-site in the 12 years since the plant was swamped by a tsunami, prompted China to ban all Japanese seafood imports.

"We confirmed that the analysed value is equal to the calculated concentration and that the analysed value is below 1,500 bq/L," TEPCO spokesman Keisuke Matsuo told a news conference on Friday.

Becquerels per litre is a measure of radioactivity. The national safety standard is 60,000.

The results were "similar to our previous simulation and sufficiently below" the safety limit, Matsuo added.

"We will continue to conduct analysis every day over the next one month and even after that, maintain our analysis effort," he said.

Japan's environment ministry said it had collected seawater samples from 11 different locations on Friday, results of which would be released on Sunday.

The Fisheries Agency also pulled a flounder and a Gurnard fish early Friday from designated sampling spots near the pipe that released the Fukushima water.

IAEA backing

TEPCO says that the water -- more than 500 Olympic pools' worth -- from cooling the remains of three reactors has been filtered of all radioactive elements except for tritium and is safe.

This is backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said on Thursday that samples taken from the first batch of diluted water prepared for discharge showed that tritium levels were well within safe limits.

Most analysts agree although environmental pressure group Greenpeace has said that the filtration process, known as ALPS, does not work and that a vast amount of radioactivity will be released into the ocean.

Japan's move has infuriated China, which says the action contaminates the ocean, and widened a ban on aquatic produce in place for 10 Japanese prefectures to cover the whole country.

Nishimura on Friday echoed Prime Minister Fum io Kishida in urging China, Japan's biggest market for seafood, to reverse the ban.

"The Japanese government... will strongly demand baseless regulations to be immediately terminated," Nishimura said.

South Korea's government, which is trying to improve relations with Japan in order to counter China, has endorsed the water release although some ordinary people are alarmed.

China's Pacific allies -- from the Solomon Islands' government to Fiji's opposition -- also echoed Beijing's criticism.

Solomons' Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare issued a "strong statement against Japan's decision". The water release, he said, "has an impact on our people, ocean, economy and livelihood."

There was a similar message in the Fijian capital Suva on Friday, where a rare protest attracted hundreds.

Demonstrators carried placards saying "Nuclear-free sea!" and "Pacific Lives Matter".