information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
31 Août 2014
August 31, 2014
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140831p2g00m0dm005000c.html
FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) -- The Fukushima government declared Saturday its acceptance of a central government plan to build storage facilities in the prefecture for contaminated soil from decontamination operations following the March 2011 nuclear disaster.
"It's a tough decision but I will accept the construction," Gov. Yuhei Sato told reporters.
Toshitsuna Watanabe and Shiro Izawa, the mayors of Okuma and Futaba, the two Fukushima towns tapped for the storage facilities as the hosts of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, suggested after meeting with Sato in the city of Fukushima that they take the governor's decision seriously.
Sato said the proposed facilities are necessary to "advance decontamination and environmental recovery. But he kept the latest decision separate from actually allowing contaminated soil to be hauled into the envisioned facilities.
The governor said he will renew his calls for legislation to make it certain that the stored soil will be permanently disposed of outside of the prefecture within 30 years from the start of storage, as well as for an allocation of subsidies to be provided to the local governments in return.
The mayors said they call on the central government to make a detailed explanation to landowners to be affected by the storage construction project.
Sato is scheduled to convey his acceptance to Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara and Reconstruction Minister Takumi Nemoto on Monday. Arrangements are under way for him to also meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the prime minister's office.
The government plans to start hauling contaminated soil into the facilities by next January, and to do so, enter into negotiations with around 2,000 landowners.
August 31, 2014(Mainichi Japan)
August 30, 2014
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140830p2g00m0dm011000c.html
FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) -- The Fukushima prefectural government on Friday decided to accept a central government plan to store radioactive waste from the decontamination operations since the March 2011 nuclear disaster within the prefecture for three decades.
After a meeting of senior prefectural officials on the matter, Gov. Yuhei Sato told reporters, "We've screened and confirmed safety and regional promotion measures as offered by the state."
Sato is expected to convey the acceptance to Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara and Reconstruction Minister Takumi Nemoto possibly Monday. Arrangements are under way for him to also meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.
In a bid to start stockpiling the waste in January at facilities near the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the central government will negotiate for the use of land with roughly 2,000 landowners of about 16 square kilometers around the plant.
The central and prefectural governments have negotiated terms and conditions since the environment minister last December requested the prefecture approve storage for up to 30 years.
During the negotiations, the central government abandoned a plan to buy all the necessary land in the face of opposition from landowners worried the storage could continue beyond 30 years.
Instead, the government has agreed to also lease land and to provide 301 billion yen in subsidies to the prefecture over the period.
It has also vowed to secure a site outside the prefecture for final disposal of the radioactive waste after the 30-year period, although the site has not been decided.
August 30, 2014(Mainichi Japan)
See also in the Japan Times :
Kyodo
FUKUSHIMA – Fukushima’s governor on Saturday officially agreed to let the central government store radioactive debris collected from decontamination operations for three decades in return for ¥301 billion in subsidies.
“It’s a difficult decision, but I want to accept the construction plan,” Gov. Yuhei Sato told reporters.
Sato made the comments after meeting with Toshitsuna Watanabe and Shiro Izawa, the mayors of the towns of Okuma and Futaba, which host the damaged Fukushima No. 1 power plant, and representatives from neighboring localities.
At the meeting, the two mayors expressed plans to take the governor’s decision “gravely” and said that the construction plans for the storage facilities had been formalized, according to sources.
Sato said he accepted the plan because he sees it as “necessary to advance decontamination and realize recovery of the environment.”
He is to formally convey his acceptance to Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara and Reconstruction Minister Takumi Nemoto as early as Monday. Arrangements are also underway for him to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.
The Abe government wants to store the tainted waste near the stricken power plant. To do so, it will have to conduct negotiations with roughly 2,000 landowners to acquire the approximately 16 sq. km of land around the plant needed to host the storage facilities. But critics say doing so will allow the government to keep the waste their even longer.
The central and prefectural governments have been negotiating the terms and conditions for the deal ever since the environment minister asked Fukushima last December to store the waste for up to 30 years.
August 29, 2014
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140829_45.html
Aug. 29, 2014 - Updated 13:11 UTC+2
Japan's Fukushima Prefecture has decided to accept a central government proposal to build intermediate radioactive waste facilities in 2 of its towns.
The government plans to build the facilities on 16-square-kilometer lots in the towns of Futaba and Okuma, near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The facilities would house contaminated soil and other radioactive waste generated by the process of decontaminating communities in Fukushima.
The government has already shown readiness to provide direct grants worth about 2.9 billion dollars to the towns and the prefecture.
Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato and senior prefectural officials held a closed-door meeting on Friday. They reportedly agreed to accept the proposal on condition that the central government enacts new legislation stipulating that the stored waste will be transferred from the prefecture within 30 years.
Fukushima also plans to ask the government to negotiate carefully with the owners of the sites while sufficiently considering individual situations.
Friday's meeting came after the government briefed a local assembly and community leaders about its proposal. There were no major objections.
Sato told reporters on Friday that the prefecture scrutinized government plans to enact new legislation for waste storage and measures to help restore living conditions for local residents.
He said it's important to listen to local opinion, and that he will make a final decision after conveying the results of Friday's meeting to the 2 towns and other communities. Sato plans to meet local leaders on Saturday.
The governor is then expected to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday to formally convey the decision.
August 27, 2014
Aug. 27, 2014 - Updated 13:31 UTC+2
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140827_36.html
The Fukushima Prefectural government says it has decided to accept a central government proposal to build intermediate radioactive waste storage facilities in the prefecture.
The central government plans to build the facilities on 16-square-kilometer lots it will prepare in the towns of Futaba and Okuma near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The facilities will house contaminated soil and other radioactive waste generated by the process of decontaminating communities in the prefecture.
The central government has already shown its readiness to provide direct grants worth about 2.9 billion dollars to the towns and the prefecture.
The prefectural government says it made the decision on Wednesday after discussing the matter with both municipalities.
It says they value to a certain extent the financial incentives prepared by the central government.
It adds it believes it obtained a broad public consensus as there were no major objections in the prefectural assembly or at meetings with community leaders.
Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato is expected to formally announce the decision on Friday. The central government is then expected to begin negotiations with the landlords of the lots.
In August 2011 then-prime minister Naoto Kan proposed a similar plan to the prefecture after the accident at the plant in March of that year.
The current government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally made the request last December.
At a series of negotiations, the central and prefectural governments agreed that new legislation should be enacted to stipulate the stored waste will be transferred from the prefecture within 30 years.
The two governments also agreed that landlords will have the option of selling their lots to the central government or keeping their ownership of the properties.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201408270040
By YOSHITAKA ITO/ Staff Writer
Two Fukushima Prefecture municipalities have decided to accept the central government's rich package of subsidies to allow the construction of intermediate facilities to store radioactive debris from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disaster.
“We succeeded in greatly deepening (local officials’) understanding (of our storage facility plan),” Nobuteru Ishihara, environment minister, told reporters on Aug. 26 after meeting with members of the town assemblies of Futaba and Okuma.
Ishihara said the central government will pay subsidies totaling 301 billion yen ($2.89 billion) to support local residents’ lives and revitalize local communities. Of that, 85 billion yen will go directly to the town governments of Futaba and Okuma, which host the stricken Fukushima plant. The remaining 216 billion yen in subsidies will be distributed through other programs.
The central government plans to distribute documents to all residents of the two towns to explain the assistance measures, and set up a dedicated telephone line to answer inquiries from local residents and others.
As for the purchase prices of the construction sites for the storage facilities, which had been a stumbling block between the central government and local officials, the Fukushima prefectural government had proposed earlier in August to cover the difference between land prices before the nuclear disaster and the current land values.
Because the town assemblies were satisfied with the suggested assistance measures, the governments of both Futaba and Okuma agreed to allow the central government to hold explanatory sessions for the landowners.
With the town governments giving their approval, it is now up to the landowners to give final approval for the central government to proceed with construction of the intermediate storage facilities.
The central government is expected to start negotiations with landowners by the end of September, after the Fukushima prefectural government officially announces its acceptance of the construction plan.
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140827p2a00m0na015000c.html
FUKUSHIMA -- The town assemblies of Okuma and Futaba have effectively agreed to the planned construction of interim storage facilities for radioactive soil emanating from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disaster at their candidate sites, it has been learned.
No objections were lodged during the plenary sessions in either town assemblies on Aug. 26 following explanations by Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara that 85 billion yen would be extended directly to the two municipalities as part of the 301 billion yen in subsidies offered by the central government. The planned facilities are designed to store radioactive soil and other waste generated in Fukushima Prefecture.
The plenary sessions of the Futaba and Okuma town assemblies were held in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Iwaki and the prefectural city of Aizuwakamatsu, respectively. Ishihara explained during the meetings that the subsidies will add up to a total of 100 billion yen -- with 85 billion yen in direct subsidies to the two towns and 15 billion yen in financial assistance for livelihood reconstruction combined. Ishihara also said his ministry will send out information materials to all residents and landowners in the two towns and install dedicated phone lines to respond to their inquiries.
After the plenary sessions, Seiichi Sasaki, speaker of the Futaba Municipal Assembly, told reporters, "I would like the central government to give in-depth explanations."
Yukio Chiba, speaker of the Okuma Municipal Assembly, said, "This (today's meeting) is not a place to decide whether we accept (the temporary storage facilities) or not. There are still matters that need to be discussed."
Environment Minister Ishihara, meanwhile, said, "We have gained better understanding (over financial assistance and other measures)."
Similar explanations are expected to be given to administrative district chiefs in the two municipalities on Aug. 27. Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato is then expected to announce his endorsement of the central government's plans to build the temporary storage facilities in the two towns as early as Aug. 29.
Contaminated soil has been sitting at temporary storage sites, getting in the way of decontamination work and recovery efforts. To alleviate this problem, the national government is aiming to have interim storage facilities built and operating from January next year.
August 27, 2014(Mainichi Japan)
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