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Storage Sites For
Contaminated Soil To Be Built In Three Fukushima Towns
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
EMF Computer Protection
Magnetic Field Detector
March
10, 2012
The
government has selected three towns near the disabled
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant as sites to host interim
facilities to store contaminated soil and other debris from
last year's disaster.
Goshi
Hosono, environment minister in charge of the nuclear
crisis, unveiled the plan on March 10.
He said
the facilities are part of a package that, among other
things, envisions the creation of a research hub for
decontaminated materials, decommissioning the plant's
reactors and developing renewable energy sources.
The
proposal for the research hub is designed to make it easier
for municipalities in Futaba county to accept construction
of the controversial facilities in their jurisdictions.
Radioactive readings are especially high in the area
following the triple meltdown at the plant in March 2011.
Tens of thousands of residents had to be evacuated.
Still,
the government will likely face a tough time moving ahead
with the project as some of the eight municipalities in the
county are staunchly opposed to the storage facilities.
Hosono
met with officials in the county on March 10 and suggested
that storage facilities be constructed in Okuma and Futaba,
which co-host the crippled plant, as well as in nearby
Naraha.
The
government plans to buy land for those facilities.
The
sites for storage will be finalized by the end of March 2013
after the government makes more specific proposals,
including locations and other details, by June.
Local
governments that will host those facilities will be provided
with subsidies.
The
government initially planned to build one storage facility,
but it decided it needed more than one in response to a
request from local officials who were calling for dispersal
of such facilities instead of one big lot.
That
apparently will also make it easier for the government to
secure land for those facilities.
Hosono
also proposed the construction in Tomioka of a disposal site
to bury rubble and waste wood and vegetation from
decontamination work.
The
government also wants to use an incineration plant in Naraha
and another, to be built somewhere in Futaba county, to
handle disposal over two years of an estimated 266,000 tons
of debris, scrap wood and vegetation from decontamination
efforts.
The
project to create a research hub, along with the
construction of storage facilities, is aimed at rebuilding
Futaba county and other parts of Fukushima Prefecture by
creating jobs and promoting local industries.
The
research is expected to focus on the environment, renewable
energy sources and radiology.
One
idea is to develop technology that will reduce the volume of
waste and soil by establishing a new branch of the National
Institute for Environmental Studies in the county.
The
research hub is also expected to develop technology to find
a way to safely decommission the Fukushima reactors.
But
officials in Futaba and Namie remain firmly opposed to the
storage facilities.
Katsuya
Endo, the mayor of Tomioka, was furious about the government
proposal to build the disposal site in Tomioka.
“Nothing has been decided about if we will accept it,” he
fumed.
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