Fukushima Pref. OKs disposal site

December 3, 2015

Fukushima OKs disposal site for radioactive waste within prefecture

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201512030041

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Fukushima Prefecture signaled Dec. 2 it will host the final disposal site for highly radioactive waste produced by the 2011 nuclear disaster, with Governor Masao Uchibori expected to relay his decision to the Environment Ministry this week.

The central government’s plan calls for the Fukushima Ecotech Clean Center, a privately run disposal facility in Tomioka near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, to be nationalized. The center will then accept about 650,000 cubic meters of garbage, including “designated waste.”

Designated waste refers to contaminated refuse such as rice straw, sewage sludge and incinerated ash of household garbage that contain more than 8,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactivity.

With 138,000 tons of such garbage, Fukushima Prefecture accounts for more than 80 percent of the estimated national total of 166,000 tons.

The Environment Ministry program requires all prefectures where radioactive fallout rained down after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima plant to dispose of designated waste within their own jurisdictions.

According to a ministry report, such waste existed in 11 other prefectures as of the end of September.

In Fukushima Prefecture, town officials in Tomioka and nearby Naraha were initially opposed to the ministry's plan on grounds that hosting the disposal site would discourage many evacuees from returning to their homes.

All residents of Tomioka, which is within a 20-kilometer radius of the Fukushima plant, are still living as evacuees because of high radiation levels in the town.

The distribution route for the planned final disposal facility runs through Naraha, most of which is also within the 20-km zone.

The two municipalities became more accepting of the project after the ministry presented safeguard measures for the disposal and the prefectural government promised the towns a combined grant of 10 billion yen ($81 million) to advance the project.

“Town officials accepted our view that the program is crucial to help recover Fukushima’s overall environment, although it poses an enormous burden on them,” Uchibori said after talks with the town officials on Dec. 2.

The Fukushima prefectural government plans to dispose of garbage measuring up to 100,000 becquerels per kilogram at the Fukushima Ecotech Clean Center.

Trash with higher radiation levels is expected to be held at a temporary storage facility under construction near the plant.

Although Fukushima is the first prefecture to accept the central government program, it remains to be seen if Miyagi, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures will follow in its footsteps in line with the ministry’s hopes.

The ministry plans to have new facilities built to dispose of designated waste in those prefectures since they have larger amounts of contaminated garbage than the other affected prefectures.

Miyagi, Tochigi and Chiba selected candidate sites after the ministry briefed municipal officials there on the method of selecting prospective venues.

However, detailed surveys toward the construction of the disposal facilities have yet to be undertaken due to fierce opposition from local citizens.

The Cabinet decided in November 2011 that prefectures with radioactive waste should dispose of the refuse within their own borders.

The contaminated waste is currently being stored on a temporary basis at sewage treatment plants or plots on farms in these prefectures.