Nahara best candidate for nuclear waste depository?

April 9, 2013

Gov't starts pre-survey on candidate site for contaminated soil storage in Fukushima

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130409p2a00m0na011000c.html

NARAHA, Fukushima -- The government started to conduct a preliminary survey on April 9 on a candidate site for a temporary storage facility here for soil contaminated with radioactive materials from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

Two officials of the Environmental Management Bureau at the Ministry of the Environment visited the branch office of the Naraha Municipal Government in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, to report the start of the survey to Hiroshi Aoki, head of the radiological countermeasure department. According to the ministry, officials plan to patrol some of about 20 locations in administrative sections of the municipality where contaminated soil and other waste has been temporarily kept in order to confirm shipping routes for contaminated soil.

In a meeting on April 9 with Mitsuru Yamamoto, former ward mayor of Namikura in Naraha, a candidate site for a temporary facility, Naraha Mayor Yukiei Matsumoto said, "Before a full-scale survey is conducted, we will certainly set up an occasion to have staff from the Ministry of the Environment give explanations to the townspeople and secure their approval."

On April 8, Senior Vice Environment Minister Shinji Inoue had asked Naraha Mayor Matsumoto to accept a government proposal to start a preliminary survey on April 9 aimed at selecting a candidate site for a temporary storage facility for contaminated soil and to begin to conduct a full-scale drilling survey after the "Golden Week" holiday period, which ends on May 6. After the meeting, Matsumoto expressed his intention to allow the government to conduct the preliminary survey. There are a total of nine candidate sites for temporary storage facilities for contaminated soil: one in Naraha, six in Okuma, and two in Futaba -- all in Fukushima Prefecture. Naraha is the only municipality where the preliminary survey has been conducted.

The April 8 meeting between Inoue and Matsumoto was closed to the media, except for the outset of the talks. The Ministry of the Environment plans to build a temporary storage facility in Naraha for contaminated soil not only from Naraha itself but also for soil from Iwaki and Hirono in the same prefecture. Naraha had previously demanded that the government build a "depository" only for contaminated soil from the municipality. After the meeting, Inoue quoted Matsumoto as saying, "We want to have an on-the-spot research contingent on building a depository." Such being the case, the preliminary survey kicked off while the central government and the Naraha Municipal Government remained divided over the nature of the facility to be built in the town.

Senior Vice Environment Minister Inoue stopped short of clarifying on April 8 whether the preliminary survey was aimed at building a depository or a temporary facility. He only said, "Whether it is a depository or a temporary storage facility, the structure and the safety problem involved with such facilities are the same. We would like to consider what is possible while actually conducting the survey."

Naraha Mayor Matsumoto said on April 8, "We have consistently insisted on a 'depository.' If our premises were to collapse, the town would never accept the survey and we have no intention of accepting it in the future."

Naraha has been designated as a "zone preparing for the lifting of the evacuation order" since last August when a no-entry zone designation was lifted for the municipality. Many of the townspeople are opposed to the idea of building a temporary storage facility there, with some citizens saying, "Why will such a facility be built in the town to which we can return?" and "It will become a permanent disposal site."