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Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara officially informed Fukushima Gov Yuhei Sato on Thursday that the government will build interim nuclear waste storage facilities at Okuma and Futaba towns. A third designated site -- at Naraha town -- was dropped after the town rejected the proposal last month.
The government has been trying to win support from local residents since last December when the plan was first suggested.
The facilities will be used to store thousands of tons of soil contaminated with radiation and other nuclear waste from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster.
The plan called for the government to spend 100 billion yen on the project, which involves buying about 16 square kilometers of land in Futaba and Okuma towns, which lie in the no-go zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The facilities themselves, which will be able to store 28 million cubic meters of waste, are expected to cost 1 trillion yen to build, the environment ministry says.
The mayors of Futaba and Okuma have expressed reservations about the plan, saying the storage facilities will dissuade displaced residents from coming back.
Reconstruction work in Fukushima has progressed much slower than in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures because the government has been unable to find a site to store all the contaminated waste.
The government plans to enact a law stating that the waste must be moved out of the prefecture with 30 years.
© Japan Today
10 Comments
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nath
I suspect that's kind of the whole point of choosing these towns. It's the government's way of saying "Come on folks, move along."
Laguna
"Interim"?! Rather a relative term; more accurate would be "for the foreseeable future," 'cause once it's there, ain't no one else gonna accept it.
Louis Tan
That's truly great. A way to ensure more parts of Japan are contaminated with nuclear waste.
Fukuppy
It is inevitable. But whey are people still there?
kimuzukashiiiii
Im sure the locals are absolutely thrilled.
Open Minded
Nuclear waste and interim are just antagonisms!
Just call it: "forever nuclear waste storage facilities"
JohnBecker
There are only two places I can think of that are viable for nuclear waste storage. The played-out mines at Hashima (Battleship Island) and the Senkakus.
smithinjapan
But hey, nuclear energy is "safe" and "inexpensive"!!
Selchuk Driss
Why don't they store the nuclear waste in the backyards of those people that support nuclear power?