MIYAKO, Iwate Prefecture--The first shipment of debris created by the March 11 quake and tsunami was transported outside the disaster region Nov. 2 after repeated checks for radiation.
MIYAKO, Iwate Prefecture--The first shipment of debris created by the March 11 quake and tsunami was transported outside the disaster region Nov. 2 after repeated checks for radiation.
The debris, taken from a mountain of garbage about 10 meters tall at Miyako Port in Iwate Prefecture, will be disposed of in Tokyo.
Before it was shipped, the debris was checked three times for radiation, even though Miyako is located hundreds of kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Miyako Mayor Masanori Yamamoto as well as about 50 officials of the Environment Ministry and the Tokyo metropolitan government were on hand to observe the radiation measurements. The levels in all three checks were within government safety standards.
Yamamoto praised Tokyo's decision to take in the debris.
"This will serve as a major foothold in our rebuilding efforts," he said. "The Tokyo metropolitan government made a bold decision to accept the debris despite the negative publicity about radiation. I hope other municipalities will also accept the debris after today's results showed no radiation problems."
The rubble was placed in lead boxes that were stacked onto railway containers, each of which can hold 5 to 7 tons of garbage. The debris was mainly wood chips, tatami mats and plastic, and did not include concrete.
Six containers were transported by truck to the JR cargo terminal in Morioka, where the containers were moved onto a train. The debris was expected to arrive at disposal centers in Koto and Ota wards in Tokyo on Nov. 3. After incineration, the ashes will be buried in a landfill area in Tokyo Bay.
According to Environment Ministry officials, the three prefectures hardest hit by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami together have an estimated 23 million tons of rubble.
Miyako alone has about 700,000 tons, which translates into 35 years of normal garbage disposal. There are few disposal facilities in its vicinity.
The Tokyo metropolitan government signed an agreement with Iwate Prefecture as a means of cooperating in the rebuilding effort. Tokyo will handle everything from transportation to final disposal.
Tokyo will accept 1,000 tons from Miyako by the end of November and a total of 10,000 tons by the end of next March.
Tokyo also plans to sign an agreement with Miyagi Prefecture. Over a three-year period until fiscal 2013, Tokyo will process a total of 500,000 tons of debris from the two prefectures.
But few other municipalities outside the disaster-hit prefectures are willing to dispose of the rubble.
Iwate and Miyagi prefectures want to complete rubble disposal within three years, but Environment Ministry officials said only 54 municipalities have so far agreed to take in the debris.
The amount of debris in Miyagi Prefecture is estimated at 18 million tons. The eastern part of the prefecture, comprising Ishinomaki, Higashi-Matsushima and Onagawa, has the largest amount in the prefecture with about 6.85 million tons.
Plans call for disposing 2.94 million tons, or about 40 percent of the total, outside of the prefecture.
Although radiation testing of the debris began in October to persuade municipalities to accept the debris, only the Tokyo metropolitan government has agreed to take in the rubble.