Legislation on waste passed

November 20, 2014

Diet passes legislation to remove nuclear waste from Fukushima in 30 years

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201411200041

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

The Diet passed a bill Nov. 19 mandating that radioactive soil and debris from the Fukushima decontamination work be moved outside the prefecture within 30 years, a step toward building interim storage facilities for the waste.

The law amendment was one of the five conditions set in September when the Fukushima prefectural government agreed to accept interim facilities to store contaminated waste collected during cleanup efforts around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki praised the legislation as a “major step forward.” However, hurdles remain high for the interim facilities--planned in Okuma and Futaba near the nuclear plant--to start accepting the waste in January as scheduled.

The bill amends a law regulating operations of the government-affiliated Japan Environmental Safety Corp. (JESCO), which is commissioned to dispose of used polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB).

The revised law stipulates the government will take necessary measures to remove waste from the prefecture for final disposal within 30 years after the interim facilities start operations. It also holds the government responsible for running the interim waste storage facilities and commissions JESCO to operate them.

Among the other conditions set by Fukushima Prefecture, the central government has agreed to earmark construction-related subsidies in its budget and take charge of the operation and maintenance of traffic routes for carrying in the waste.

One big problem for the government, however, is purchasing land for the facilities.

The planned construction zone stretches 16 square kilometers, comprising 2,365 land plots belonging to individual owners.

As of the end of September, the government has located the whereabouts of only 1,269 landowners, partly because they live outside their properties as evacuees.

The government first plans to create temporary storage sites on individual land plots it purchases to start accepting radioactive waste there as early as possible. But it has not reached a purchase or lease agreement with a single landowner.

Taking into account this stumbling block, reconstruction minister Wataru Takeshita said Nov. 7 that the government’s plan to open the interim storage facilities in January will likely be pushed back.

(This article was written by Teru Okumura and Takuro Negishi.)