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The first load of tsunami debris from Miyagi Prefecture arrived in Kitakyushu for disposal on Monday morning.
A group of about 30 demonstrators were on hand to protest the arrival of the 100 tons of debris from Ishinomaki City, TBS reported. The debris will be incinerated at three locations in Kitakyushu, officials said.
In March, the Kitakyushu assembly adopted a resolution to accept tsunami debris as long as the central government demonstrated that it is not radioactive. The decision was in response to a written request from Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, which he sent to all prefectures other than Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, asking them to accept debris, under a special law on disaster waste disposal.
The Kitakyushu assembly agreed to accept 80 tons of debris from Ishinomaki City on a trial basis. After the ash from debris incineration tested negative for radiation, the city agreed to accept 23,000 tons of debris this fiscal year.
Environment Minister Goshi Hosono, who is also the minister in charge of dealing with the nuclear crisis, has assured local governments that the central government will strictly monitor radiation levels in all debris before it leaves Tohoku and will also test the ashes after debris is incinerated to reassure local residents.
© Japan Today
11 Comments
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kurisupisu
The burning of debris? Whatever is that ? Be sure that there will be a good mix of manmade materials which upon incineration will release to if chemicals and dioxins into the environment! Who will monitor this and how will local residents be protected?
basroil
FightingVikingSep. 18, 2012 - 12:05PM JST
The debris is radioactive, but because of natural radiation in plant life. People can't seem to wrap their heads around this distinction. The debris are very unlikely to have anything but trace levels of man-made radio-isotopes that are mostly from Russian nuclear tests (which released hundreds of times more Cs-137). Even with concentration, the expected residue is likely to fall well under government radiation limits for common trash.
Star-viking
FightingVikingSep. 18, 2012 - 12:05PM JST
How? Most of the radioisotopes either went inland or down south. Miyagi and Iwate's tsunami debris is unlikely to have any serious level of radioisotopes.
FightingViking
@Zichi
It may be debris from the tsunami but it could still very easily be contaminated with radioactivity.
Scrote
Much of the debris has drifted across the Pacific in the time it took for Kitakyushu to agree to accept some. They are still acting faster than many other prefectures and their selfish inhabitants though.
astroboy
As zichi wrote, Ishinomaki is ~50km north of Sendai (which is its self ~100km north of the Fukushima reactors), the level of radiation there never even approached the dangerous zone!
TSRnow
True, but I would think Kitakyushu would have been happy to help with the debris if it hadn't been for the nuclear outbreak. They wouldn't have had to transport it that far in the first place.
Wolfpack
Is it just my imagination or is everyone on the planet demonstrating against something this month?
FightingViking
I still don't understand why the whole of Japan must pay both - financially and in kind - for TEPCO's man-made catastrophy...
Yubaru
Note to Kitakyushu and any other prefecture that is helping to incinerate the debris;
Get a third party, (non-government) reading on the waste to be SURE there is no radiation!