Impact on marine biota in Fukushima by TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident. Is fish from Fukushima good to eat?

The accident that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which is operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), led to a massive release of radioactive materials into the ocean. The resultant devastation of the Japanese fishing industry continues to this day. A relatively high concentration of radioactive cesium was detected for some time after the accident. However, in the monitoring conducted subsequently by the prefectural government of Fukushima in FY2015, not a single fishery product sample exceeded 100 Bq/kg-wet, which is the national threshold for shipment restrictions. This commentary describes the current state of fishery product contamination in the waters off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture. It then explains how this contamination was reduced and examines why contamination was relatively prolonged for some fish species. It also mentions the rarely reported topic of the presence of strontium-90 in fishery products. (author)