The government has selected three towns near the disabled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant as sites to host interim facilities to store decontaminated soil and other debris from last year's disaster.
The government has selected three towns near the disabled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant as sites to host interim facilities to store decontaminated soil and other debris from last year's disaster.
Goshi Hosono, environment minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, unveiled the plan on March 10.
He said the facilities are part of a package that, among other things, envisions the creation of a research hub for decontaminated materials, decommissioning the plant's reactors and developing renewable energy sources.
The proposal for the research hub is designed to make it easier for municipalities in Futaba county to accept construction of the controversial facilities in their jurisdictions.
Radioactive readings are especially high in the area following the triple meltdown at the plant in March 2011. Tens of thousands of residents had to be evacuated.
Still, the government will likely face a tough time moving ahead with the project as some of the eight municipalities in the county are staunchly opposed to the storage facilities.
Hosono met with officials in the county on March 10 and suggested that storage facilities be constructed in Okuma and Futaba, which co-host the crippled plant, as well as in nearby Naraha.
The government plans to buy land for those facilities.
The sites for storage will be finalized by the end of March 2013 after the government makes more specific proposals, including locations and other details, by June.
Local governments that will host those facilities will be provided with subsidies.
The government initially planned to build one storage facility, but it decided it needed more than one in response to a request from local officials who were calling for dispersal of such facilities instead of one big lot.
That apparently will also make it easier for the government to secure land for those facilities.
Hosono also proposed the construction in Tomioka of a disposal site to bury rubble and waste wood and vegetation from decontamination work.
The government also wants to use an incineration plant in Naraha and another, to be built somewhere in Futaba county, to handle disposal over two years of an estimated 266,000 tons of debris, scrap wood and vegetation from decontamination efforts.
The project to create a research hub, along with the construction of storage facilities, is aimed at rebuilding Futaba county and other parts of Fukushima Prefecture by creating jobs and promoting local industries.
The research is expected to focus on the environment, renewable energy sources and radiology.
One idea is to develop technology that will reduce the volume of waste and soil by establishing a new branch of the National Institute for Environmental Studies in the county.
The research hub is also expected to develop technology to find a way to safely decommission the Fukushima reactors.
But officials in Futaba and Namie remain firmly opposed to the storage facilities.
Katsuya Endo, the mayor of Tomioka, was furious about the government proposal to build the disposal site in Tomioka.
“Nothing has been decided about if we will accept it,” he fumed.