Japan should take a pragmatic approach in cleaning up forests and areas with low radiation levels as it will likely prove ineffective despite the enormous amounts of time and costs, according to an international nuclear watchdog.
Japan should take a pragmatic approach in cleaning up forests and areas with low radiation levels as it will likely prove ineffective despite the enormous amounts of time and costs, according to an international nuclear watchdog.
Juan Carlos Lentijo, who leads a team of experts from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, told a news conference in Tokyo on Oct. 14 that the Japanese government should weigh the costs and time required to decontaminate against the safety benefits that will be achieved.
Lentijo, an expert on decontamination, also said that it would be desirable to begin the cleanup of forests after assessing if the process will contribute to increased public safety.
The 12-member team arrived in Japan on Oct. 7 to offer advice on the country's efforts to deal with decontamination after inspecting the operation under way in areas surrounding the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The team's report, released on Oct. 14, urged the government to be more realistic about decontamination.
It said the full-scale cleanup of forests and areas where low levels of radiation are detected will be ineffective given the money and time that it will take.
The decontamination operation is expected to cost the central government more than 1 trillion yen ($12.99 billion).
It encompasses a wide range of areas because the Environment Ministry's guidelines for decontamination states that the state will be responsible for cleaning up the areas where the annual exposure to radiation from fallout from the crippled plant is estimated to reach 1 millisievert or more.
Analysts say that the central government's operation could jeopardize similar work undertaken by other entities in terms of manpower and produce an enormous amount of topsoil scraped off from the ground surface.
While the report is nonbinding, the IAEA experts were dispatched at the request of the Japanese government.
Goshi Hosono, environment minister, told reporters that the government hopes to reflect some of the 12-point IAEA advice in specific actions in local areas, although the central government's guidelines will remain intact.
Hosono's remarks indicated that the central government and local governments may take into account the IAEA suggestions when they together draw up decontamination plans.
The report also said that in some areas, the topsoil does not need to be removed as much as 5 centimeters deep, a level currently set.
The central government's estimate showed that the total amount of soil to be scrapped off 5 centimeters from the surface could reach 29 million cubic meters, or the equivalent of 23 Tokyo Dome stadiums.
The report also said that the central and local governments should make efforts on final disposal sites for the contaminated soil and debris.