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information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise

Decontamination - Cutting corners

January 8, 2013

 

Tainted water allowed to run off
Fukushima cleanup crews cut corners

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20130108x1.html

 

 

By MIZUHO AOKI 

Staff writer


Two construction joint ventures hired to wash radioactive substances off buildings in two Fukushima Prefecture communities in December allowed the tainted water to run off into street gutters, an Environment Ministry official said Tuesday.


Although not illegal, the conduct of Taisei Corp., Maeda Corp. and other firms involved in the venture illustrates the types of corners that contractors cut in doing cleanup work.


A special law passed for the nuclear disaster makes dumping of contaminated substances into the environment punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine of up to ¥10 million. However, contractors are only asked to collect tainted runoff, with no penalty for failing to do so.


Recent media reports that contractors were possibly illegally dumping radiation-tainted waste into rivers and elsewhere in Fukushima Prefecture prompted the Environment Ministry's Fukushima office for environmental restoration to question managers of four joint ventures Monday. They were all hired by the government to do decontamination work near the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.


The ministry investigation turned up the cases of tainted runoff in the village of Iitate and the town of Naraha.

In Iitate, workers washing a post office and its premises allowed some of the contaminated water to run freely into a gutter in the street, said the ministry official, who declined to be named, citing ministry policy.


Though workers blocked the gutter at one end, contaminated water was allowed to flow away in the other direction.

In Naraha, contractors used high-pressure water hoses to decontaminate the roof and walls of a house without taking steps to collect the tainted runoff, he said.


On Monday, a ministry task force ordered the contractors to re-examine their methods for dealing with contaminated waste. The ministry plans to come up with countermeasures by the end of next week, he said.


"We must figure out why this happened, and what is really going on at decontamination sites first," the official said.


As of Monday, 50 ministry officials and hired supervisors were monitoring decontamination work in Naraha, Iitate, Tamura and Kawauchi.


But work is currently halted in some areas in the prefecture due to a lack of temporary storage sites for tainted waste, the official said.

Radiation-tainted water left after decontamination work in 2 Fukushima districts

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130108p2a00m0na010000c.html


FUKUSHIMA -- In yet another revelation of shoddy decontamination work in the aftermath of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant disaster, two joint ventures failed to collect radiation-tainted water in two municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture last month, the government has disclosed.


The Ministry of the Environment's local office in the city of Fukushima announced on Jan. 7 that two joint ventures including general contractors that undertook the government-run decontamination project failed to retrieve water generated by decontamination work in the town of Naraha and the village of Iitate in mid-December last year.


The ministry will strive to uncover the whole picture of the situation and step up on-site monitoring and supervision of decontamination work. The finding comes on the heels of a series of revelations of illicit dumping of radioactive waste by subcontractors in nuclear disaster-hit areas.


The latest case emerged after the ministry's Fukushima environmental rehabilitation office interviewed officials of the two joint ventures, who admitted to contract violations such as not recovering contaminated water.


Also on Jan. 7, the ministry decided to set up a headquarters for promoting proper decontamination work in an attempt to strengthen the monitoring of such efforts. While ministry officials had been patrolling more than 10 zones subject to decontamination, ministry officials and patrol assistants will hereafter be deployed to all zones on a regular basis.


Furthermore, the ministry also suggested a review of its complaint processing system after admitting that its Fukushima office had left reports of illicit treatment of radioactive waste unaddressed.

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