The state minister in charge of handling the Fukushima nuclear accident said the government was considering temporarily storing radioactive debris on the premises of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, but that localities affected by the disaster will have to store their own radioactive debris while authorities search for longer-term solutions.
The state minister in charge of handling the Fukushima nuclear accident said the government was considering temporarily storing radioactive debris on the premises of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, but that localities affected by the disaster will have to store their own radioactive debris while authorities search for longer-term solutions.
Goshi Hosono told reporters on Sept. 4: "There is a considerable amount of highly radioactive debris at the nuclear power plant, which is hard to move off the site. We should think about storing it on the plant's premises."
It was the first official statement from a member of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's new Cabinet indicating that the stricken plant is a possible location for storing radioactive rubble.
But Hosono said the nuclear complex would not be capable of containing all of the contaminated material in Fukushima prefecture, or even all of the nuclear waste generated by decontamination operations.
"Storing all of the rubble in the plant would not be realistic," he said.
On Aug. 27, Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Noda's predecessor, indicated that the government may ask Fukushiam Prefecture to host an interim storage facility to cope with the debris until a permanent disposal site is found outside of the prefecture.
Hosono, who retained his post as a state minister to deal with the nuclear crisis under the current administration, reiterated Kan's promise not to make the prefecture the final disposal site.
Hosono, who doubles as environment minister, also said Japan should try to fulfill its commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.