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Kota Kinabalu: No radioactive waste has been detected in Sabah’s waters, said Dr Faihanna Ching Abdullah, Director of Borneo Marine Research Institute at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

According to her, Sabah’s waters are safe from the release of Fukushima-treated radioactive water.

“In Malaysia, the first Gamma Spectrum Water Monitoring Station (GSWMS) has been installed at the UMS jetty in Sepanggar to monitor radioactivity levels in the country’s waters.

“When we (UMS together with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) went to monitor radioactivity levels last year, the GSWMS did not detect any radioactive material in our country’s waters. So, we can say that we are safe in Sabah’s waters.

“It is also good for Sabah because we’re also a hub for seafood, so everyone is looking for seafood here, and we want to make sure it is safe,” she said when met during the launch of “ATOM@UMS 2024: Kegunaan Aman Nuklear” at U-Science, UMS, Monday.

She was asked whether the release of Fukushima-treated radioactive waters affects Sabah.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant was destroyed in March 2011 after a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake generated powerful tsunami waves that caused the meltdowns of three of its reactors.

Malaysia installed GSWMS in Sabah after Japan released treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Faihanna explained that the Fukushima incident occurred in 2011.

“The first release of radioactive waste (treated radioactive water) occurred last year, in 2023. 

“It took about 11 years for Fukushima to release this waste, but the levels were extremely low – less than 50 times below the safe limit.

“When the waste was released into the Pacific Ocean, all this waste would dissolve in the water. It would also take a considerable amount of time or a very long journey for it to reach Sabah from Fukushima,” she said.