Fukushima soil headed to Japan PM's flower beds to allay nuclear safety fears
Slightly radioactive soil from near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be transported to Tokyo and used in flower beds in the prime minister's garden, in an attempt to prove to a skeptical public that the material is safe.
The decision comes 14 years after the plant suffered a triple meltdown in the world's worst nuclear accident since Chornobyl.
The sample will be taken from 14 million cubic metres of soil – enough to fill 10 baseball stadiums – that has been removed from near the plant during work to make local neighbourhoods fit for the return of evacuated residents.
The soil is in temporary storage at a vast site near the plant, but authorities have struggled to make progress on a legal obligation to find permanent homes for the material outside Fukushima by 2045.
The government has suggested the material, which it describes as low risk, could be used to build roads and other infrastructure in other parts of Japan. It would be used as foundation material and covered with topsoil thick enough to keep radiation at negligible levels.
Officials said they hoped the gesture by the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, would convince other locations that accepting quantities of the soil would not pose a risk to public health or the environment.
'The government will take the lead in setting an example, and we will do so at the prime minister's office,' the chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said at a meeting held to discuss the issue.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant released large quantities of radiation into the atmosphere after it was struck by a powerful earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The disaster knocked out the facility's backup power supply, sending three of its reactors into meltdown.
Although most of neighbourhoods that were evacuated after the disaster have been declared safe, many residents are reluctant to return. Some are concerned about the potential health effects – particularly on children – of living in former no-go zones, while others have built new lives elsewhere.
Work to remove 880 tonnes of highly dangerous damaged fuel from reactor containment vessels has barely begun. So far, specially designed devices have successfully retrieved two tiny samples of fuel, but removing all of it is expected to take decades and cost trillions of yen.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power, has also had to contend with huge quantities of water that becomes contaminated when it is used to cool the damaged reactors. In 2023, the utility started pumping treated water – with all but one radioactive element removed – into the Pacific Ocean, triggering an angry response from China and South Korea.
The removal of topsoil, trees and other debris from near homes, schools, medical facilities and other public buildings created a stockpile of contaminated waste that now fills a site straddling the towns of Futaba and Okuma, located close to the plant. The material does not include any debris from inside Fukushima Daiichi.
In its final report on the recycling and disposal of the soil last year, the International Atomic Energy Agency said the work had been consistent with its safety standards.
But the public is yet to be convinced. Last month, local opposition forced the environment ministry to abandon a pilot project to use some of the Fukushima soil as landfill for flower beds and lawns at public parks in and around Tokyo.
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On Monday, the IAEA began a Board of Governors meeting in Vienna that will last until Friday to discuss Iran's atomic activities and other issues. It had previously criticised 'less than satisfactory' cooperation from Tehran, particularly in explaining past cases of nuclear material found at undeclared sites. Iran has criticised the IAEA's report as unbalanced, saying it relied on 'forged documents' provided by its arch foe Israel. Israel is believed to have nuclear weapons already.
