information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
4 Août 2012
August 3, 2012
Arrangements have almost been completedto find local governments to accept combustible debris from last year's earthquake and tsunami in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, according to the Environment Ministry.
The ministry will mention the arrangements for disposal of woodchips and other combustible debris in a disaster waste disposal plan it will compile shortly, ministry officials said.
It continues to call for cooperation from municipalities for the disposal of nonflammable disaster debris, an issue that has not been decided as smoothly.
The ministry aims to dispose of debris from the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake in the two prefectures by the end of March 2014.
The government has been asking local governments outside the two prefectures to incinerate or bury the disaster debris they cannot process on their own. Miyagi Prefecture has 12.52 million tons of disaster debris, while Iwate has 5.25 million tons, of which 1.14 million tons and 1.19 million tons respectively are designated for disposal outside the disaster-hit prefectures.
Debris in Fukushima Prefecture, meanwhile, will be disposed of within its administrative area.
According to the Miyagi prefectural government, local governments in Tokyo and four other prefectures--Aomori, Yamagata, Fukushima and Ibaraki--have started to accept about 140,000 tons of combustible debris.
In addition, it has been making final arrangements with the Kitakyushu municipal government, which has expressed its willingness to accept a large amount of disaster debris.
Therefore, the prefectural government announced July 25 that the remaining 220,000 tons can be incinerated mainly by asking these municipalities to increase the amount of debris they will accept.
When it comes to combustible debris in Iwate Prefecture, local governments in Tokyo and six other prefectures--including Aomori and Shizuoka--have expressed their willingness to accept it.
Final arrangements, moreover, are also being made with other municipalities, mainly in the Kanto, Hokuriku and Kansai regions. Therefore, Environment Minister Goshi Hosono has said plans have been made for disposing of Iwate's 240,000 tons of combustible debris.
An increasing number of local governments began to examine accepting debris from the two prefectures since Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda called for cooperation from municipalities nationwide in March this year.
A senior ministry official said the ministry would not have to ask all municipalities that have expressed their willingness to accept debris from the two prefectures.
"Instead, however, we'll ask for further cooperation from the local governments that have already started trial incineration and other preparatory work as a step for full-fledged acceptance [of disaster debris from Iwate and Miyagi]," the official said.
The names of such municipalities will be listed in the disaster waste disposal plan, the official added.
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