Transportation of radioactive waste will have to wait

 January 15, 2015

Transportation of radioactive waste to be delayed

Jan. 15, 2015 - Updated 11:23 UTC+1

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150115_31.html

Japan's Environment Ministry has decided to delay transportation of radioactive waste to a projected intermediate storage area in Fukushima Prefecture due to a delay in construction.

The government chose a 16-square-kilometer area straddling the towns of Futaba and Okuma as a candidate site for the intermediate storage facilities. The facilities will store radioactive waste stemming from the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The Fukushima prefectural government accepted the plan last year.

The Environment Ministry has been preparing to start transportation by the end of January.
But construction of a temporary storage site, where workers will place radioactive waste before moving it to the intermediate facilities, has been delayed.

Soil and other waste accumulated from decontamination operations are now stored at around 1,000 initial storage sites and more than 75,000 private properties across the prefecture.

Local governments are calling for transportation of the contaminated waste to the intermediate storage facilities to start soon.