Fukushima OKs disposal site for radioactive waste within prefecture

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Fukushima Prefecture signaled Dec. 2 it will host the final disposal site for highly radioactive waste produced by the 2011 nuclear disaster, with Governor Masao Uchibori expected to relay his decision to the Environment Ministry this week.

The central government’s plan calls for the Fukushima Ecotech Clean Center, a privately run disposal facility in Tomioka near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, to be nationalized. The center will then accept about 650,000 cubic meters of garbage, including “designated waste.”

Designated waste refers to contaminated refuse such as rice straw, sewage sludge and incinerated ash of household garbage that contain more than 8,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactivity.

With 138,000 tons of such garbage, Fukushima Prefecture accounts for more than 80 percent of the estimated national total of 166,000 tons.

The Environment Ministry program requires all prefectures where radioactive fallout rained down after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima plant to dispose of designated waste within their own jurisdictions.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201512030041