Govt seeks more info over Fukushima water release
The SAR government said on Tuesday that officials were reviewing the final report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which approved Japan's plans to release water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, backed Japan's plans to release treated water into the sea, but emphasised that the watchdog will maintain a presence at the site to monitor the plan's implementation. In a statement, the Hong Kong government said it was seeking more information and scientific evidence from Japan on how it intended to ensure safety, adding that Tokyo should not discharge the wastewater unilaterally without the consensus of the international community. The government had repeatedly indicated that it will take control measures on aquatic products from high-risk prefectures in Japan once Japan begins discharging the water, the spokesperson said. "The HKSAR Government will formulate and announce the import control measures on relevant food from Japan based on scientific and risk-based principles after taking into full consideration of the final report of the IAEA, the opinion of Mainland China's expert, risk assessments and relevant information, etc," the statement wrote. Beijing, meanwhile, said the two-year safety review cannot justify Tokyo’s dumping of contaminated water.  "The mandate of the IAEA is limited to evaluating the ocean discharge plan only by the Japanese side from the very start and the agency does not have the mandate to evaluate other options,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. “In this case, the report to be released will not prove the discharge is legitimate and justified and exempt the Japanese side from its due responsibilities and obligations under international law.”