ID :
401698
Mon, 03/28/2016 - 07:16
Auther :

Govt to Secure Up to 70 Pct of Fukushima Radioactive Waste Site

Fukushima, March 27 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Environment Ministry indicated Sunday that it will likely be able to acquire by fiscal 2020 some 640-1,150 hectares, or 40-70 pct, of a site in Fukushima for a planned interim storage facility for soil and other waste from radiation decontamination work after a 2011 nuclear accident in the northeastern prefecture. The prospect is included in a five-year roadmap for the establishment of the interim storage facility, which was presented to the day's meeting in the city of Fukushima of a council comprising the prefectural government and local municipalities. The 1,600-hectare site for the facility straddles the towns of Okuma and Futaba in the prefecture, home to Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which was heavily damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. If 640-1,150 hectares are secured, 5 million to 12.5 million cubic meters of radiation-tainted waste can be transferred to the site. The ministry aims to finish by fiscal 2020 the transportation to the site of radioactive soil that is now stored at such places as school premises and residential areas. After the meeting, Environment Minister Tamayo Marukawa told reporters that the ministry calculated the estimate based on a realistic approach, adding that it will continue efforts to gain local understanding for the construction of the storage facility. The number of landowners for the 1,600-hectare site totals 2,365. The ministry has visited some 1,240 of them and acquired about 22 hectares from 82 owners as of Friday. But negotiations with other landowners have been tough as it is taking longer than expected to calculate the amounts of compensation. The planned interim facility is slated to store up to 22 million cubic meters of radioactive waste. By the end of March, about 50,000 cubic meters are expected to be transported to a provisional storage facility set up at the site . In fiscal 2016, which starts next month, the ministry plans to transfer about 150,000 cubic meters to the site. It aims to increase the amount in stages depending on progress in the acquisition of the site. END

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