Saitama to accept tsunami rubble from Iwate

cue paranoid drivel about radiation...

japan_cynicAug. 29, 2012 - 03:55PM JST

cue paranoid drivel about radiation...

Washed wood from northern parts of Iwate have more than 100Bq/kg, likely five or six times that. All of it is from naturally occurring potassium and carbon isotopes. Unless the article is updated to define what isotope the 100Bq is referring to, technically anything that hasn't been dead for centuries will be above acceptable limits.

Slightly off-topic, but my English sister-in-law works in the area of industrial waste management, and when I told her about the plan to spread the irradiated material around Japan, her mouth literally dropped open wide, and she genuinely thought I had to be making it up. According to her, the absolutely universally recognised rule number 1 of waste management is contain, contain, contain - keep it all in the same place, never disperse it.

........... plan to spread the irradiated material around Japan,..................

Irradiated material? Can you expand on that? Did you explain the geography, the location of Iwate-ken with reference to Fukushima to your sister?

@japan_cynic: Seems you were absolutely right.

It's all so sadly predictable.

@Harry Gatto-

This was a conversation we had weeks ago some time after a plan was suggested that soil from fukushima would be transported to different parts of Japan. That's why I said it was an off-topic post.

cue paranoid drivel about radiation...

At least one incinerator has already reported ash over allowed radiation limits. Its in Kashiwa. They could not even contain and store the ash. http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/radioactive-ash-causes-shutdown-of-kashiwa-incinerators

Did you explain the geography, the location of Iwate-ken with reference to Fukushima to your sister?

Maybe he did, explaining that Japan is the size of an American state, and a prefecture is the size of county. Its not really so hard to think that since the main plume of the explosion went northwest with the wind, that plenty of radioactive materials might have traveled straight north, over one county and into another, since we have been told that is how Kashiwa, to the south, got their hotspots. (Kashiwa again!) And do you know which way Pacific currents flow in Japan? That's right, north from Fukushima to Iwate! What has been picked up since 3/11 has had plenty of time to get contaminated with the sea water that was dumped into the ocean from the Fukushima reactors.

All it is going to take is a few greedy, careless people with some greedy, careless friends working night shift at the incinerator for some stuff to get burnt that shouldn't.

And there is no reason to move anything from such an empty place as Iwate to be burnt anyway, except again, greed. There is big money to be had in transporting and burning, and none to be had in piling it up on some empty useless mountain land away from everybody within Iwate to be disposed of locally and slowly.

When you do things for no good reason, bad things happen. Like in Kashiwa. Did the radioactive particles fly there by themselves you think? Or was it related to the incinerator? Paranoid drivel you say? When you live in Oz, its not at all strange to wonder what the hell is behind the curtain, and not trust the wizard.

AlternateUniverseAug. 29, 2012 - 09:29PM JST

And there is no reason to move anything from such an empty place as Iwate to be burnt anyway, except again, greed. There is big money to be had in transporting and burning, and none to be had in piling it up on some empty useless mountain land away from everybody within Iwate to be disposed of locally and slowly.

Japan incinerates waste to reduce landfill size, since incinerated waste loses many times it's size. The incinerators at any one place are only made to burn a certain amount and type of material, and absolutely no place in Japan would be able to handle tsunami wastes from their area within any reasonable time frame. To dump it in the mountains would be an environmental nightmare, and against the law.

When you do things for no good reason, bad things happen. Like in Kashiwa. Did the radioactive particles fly there by themselves you think? Or was it related to the incinerator? Paranoid drivel you say? When you live in Oz, its not at all strange to wonder what the hell is behind the curtain, and not trust the wizard.

As stated above, incinerators reduce size. From that, they reduce weight as well. Most pollutants will not escape the materials, and thus it will concentrate. Other heavy metals like lead and mercury also can concentrate in this method, though the low boiling temperatures allow fairly large amounts to escape incinerators. There is a good chance that concentration will occur with Iwate waste, but proper washing before transportation of materials will eliminate any perceived problems. Concentration should be seen as a very good thing, as it means that radioactive materials are removed from the environment. Many facilities are unprepared to handle the trailings, but that is an entirely different issue. The example you stated actually had nothing to do with tsunami or fukushima/iwate debris though, as they only burned normal trash and tree clippings (and later stopped burning tree clippings, please read http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111007a3.html). Tsunami debris in general are not very good at absorbing fallout, and what little is picked up stays on the surface.

Apparently, the radioactive ashes are going to be used to make cement, according to a certain blog site with the same of a prefecture where a nuclear accident took place last year (and is still ongoing) and the word 'diary'.

So glad I live in Saitama..

Why don't these idiot in power send all the rubble to areas in and around the Daichi power plants in Fukushima. Oh yeah, the brown paper bag syndrome probably strikes again...

tokyokawasakiAug. 30, 2012 - 03:22PM JST

Why don't these idiot in power send all the rubble to areas in and around the Daichi power plants in Fukushima. Oh yeah, the brown paper bag syndrome probably strikes again...

Those incinerators are already at capacity or unable to be operated within legal limits. Likewise creating a landfill takes months or years of research, as well as more bureaucratic hoops to jump through than a circus. Hence they use the legal channels that are currently available .

Why incinerate it if they can just dump it all within a few kilometers of the reactors? It's not like anyone will be there there again any time soon is it?

Why incinerate it if they can just dump it all within a few kilometers of the reactors?

Would you take on the basic-wage task of driving lorryloads of rubbish into a radioactive no-go zone?

Trucking the waste here and there in Japan spreads more than just radiation-the local governments and transport companies all pick up lucrative contracts for doing just that and who do you think receives the backhanders?