information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
6 Juin 2015
Workers move large black plastic bags containing irradiated soil, leaves and debris from the ongoing decontamination operation at a temporary storage site in the town of Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, in February. | REUTERS
June 6, 2015
JIJI
FUKUSHIMA – Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki told Fukushima Prefecture leaders Friday that the central government plans to nationalize a private facility intended for the disposal of relatively low radioactive waste in the prefecture.
In a meeting with Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori and others, Mochizuki also said the government plans to launch a new subsidy program for revising the local economy.
The ministry was to utilize the facility, which handles industrial waste, for the final disposal of such radioactive waste under an outsourcing contract, but it accepted the local demand for the nationalization.
Uchibori said in the meeting that he welcomes the ministry’s policy.
Koichi Miyamoto, mayor of the town of Tomioka where the facility is located, was understanding of the ministry’s move.
The facility will be used for the final disposal of waste tainted with radioactive materials released from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
It will accept waste with radioactivity levels of up to 100,000 becquerels per kilogram.
Waste and soil with higher radioactivity levels are to be kept at an interim storage facility, which will be constructed at a site straddling the towns of Okuma and Futaba.
June 6, 2015
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201506060036
By YU KOTSUBO/ Staff Writer
FUKUSHIMA--The Environment Ministry said it will nationalize a privately owned site in Fukushima Prefecture to dispose of radioactive waste generated by the 2011 nuclear disaster there.
The decision effectively makes the government responsible for safety of the site.
Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki met with Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori, Tomioka Mayor Koichi Miyamoto and Naraha Mayor Yukiei Matsumoto on June 5, and told them that the government will purchase a site in Tomioka to bury the radioactive waste. A transportation route to the site runs through Naraha.
The material to be buried includes “designated waste,” whose concentration of radioactive materials exceeds 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.
“We made the decision to secure the safety of the project,” Mochizuki said during the meeting held at a Fukushima prefectural government office.
Mochizuki sweetened the deal by pledging to take measures to promote the local economy, including a provision of grants that can be used freely by local governments. The nationalization and the economic promotion measures had been requested by the local governments.
In response to the ministry’s decision, Uchibori called it “an important step.”
Miyamoto added, “I think it was a good decision.”
The site, currently owned by Fukushima Ecotech, is expected to accommodate designated waste, such as sewage sludge and rice straw, as well as rubble from evacuation zones, and residential garbage from municipalities in Futaba county in and around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant that will be produced after evacuated residents are allowed to return home.
In 2013, the ministry had asked the local governments to accept a plan to bury the waste at the privately owned site. However, local authorities demanded that the government nationalize and operate it under state control to ensure safety.
This has delayed the process from its planned January 2015 initial start.
The government is also facing difficulties in determining disposal sites in other prefectures because of strong opposition from local residents.
“The decision (to nationalize the site in Fukushima Prefecture) has no direct relations with other prefectures,” a ministry official said. “But it will be regarded by them as an important step forward.”
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