Soil from Fukushima radiation decontamination to be used in Tokyo
The government said Tuesday that it will promote the reuse of soil removed during radiation decontamination work after the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture.
The government said that it will reuse the soil for flower beds within the grounds of central government agencies and in the grounds of the prime minister's office in Tokyo.
Through the plan, the government hopes to promote the public reuse of the soil throughout the country.
"The central government will take the initiative in creating precedent cases," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a ministerial meeting on the disposal of soil removed during the decontamination process following the triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The plan is part of broader efforts to achieve final disposal of the soil outside Fukushima Prefecture by March 2045.
Such soil has been used for creating farmland and filling roads in Fukushima Prefecture as test projects. The use by the central government would be the first full-scale reuse case outside of the prefecture.
Plans to reuse such soil in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward and in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, fell through due to opposition from local residents.
Over 14 million cubic meters of soil removed during the decontamination work is currently stored at interim facilities in the Fukushima towns of Okuma and Futaba, where the Tepco plant is located.
A Japanese law stipulates that three-quarters of the soil, which has a radioactive concentration of 8,000 becquerels or less per kilogram, will be reused for public works projects, and the rest be disposed of outside the prefecture by March 2045.
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