South Korean consumers are buying sea salt and other items in droves as concerns over their safety grow as Japan prepares to dump one million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

This water was mainly used to cool damaged reactors when this nuclear plant north of Tokyo was hit in 2011 by an earthquake and tsunami.

The discharge of water into the Pacific from the huge reservoirs in which it was stored, expected to take place soonalthough no date has yet been set.

Japan has given repeated assurances that the water is safesaying it has been filtered to remove most isotopes, although it does contain traces of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is difficult to separate from water.

Reactions and concern

But fishermen and shopkeepers in Japan and across the region are expressing fears.

“I recently bought 5 kilos of saltsays Lee Young-min, a 38-year-old mother of two in Seongnam, just south of the capital Seoul.

She says she has never bought so much salt before, but she felt she had to do everything she could to protect her family.

“I’m a mother raising two children, I can’t be indifferent and do nothing, I want the food I give them to be safe.”

Bulk purchases helped push up the price of salt in South Korea by nearly 27% in June compared to two months ago, although officials say the weather and lower production are also responsible for the price increase.

In response, the government is making available about 50 metric tons of salt per day from its reserves at a 20 percent discount from the market price until July 11, Vice Fisheries Minister Song Sang-keun said yesterday, Wednesday.

South Korean authorities say they will closely monitor the salt flats for any increase in radioactivity. South Korea has banned food products from waters near Fukushima, off Japan’s east coast.

China has also criticized Japan’s plan for the discharge of the waters, accusing it of a lack of transparency and saying it poses a threat to the marine environment and to the health of people around the world.

Japan says it has provided its neighbors with detailed and scientific explanations of its plans.

Japanese Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said last week that Japan was seeing a growing understanding of its position on the issue, but that was not evident this week at the shops in Seoul.

“I came to buy salt, but there is none left,” says 73-year-old Kim Myung-ok in front of the supermarket’s empty shelves. “It wasn’t even there last time I came.”

“The discharge of water is worrying. We are adults and have lived enough, but I am worried about the children.”