Nearly half of Tohoku disaster debris disposed of

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Nearly half of the debris in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures--the three hit hardest by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake--has been disposed of, the Environment Ministry said Feb. 22.

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Nearly half of Tohoku disaster debris disposed of
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Nearly half of the debris in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures--the three hit hardest by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake--has been disposed of, the Environment Ministry said Feb. 22.

An estimated 7,540,000 tons, or 46 percent, of the total 16,280,000 tons had been incinerated or buried as of the end of January, the ministry said. That is roughly twice the amount disposed of as of Aug. 31, 2012.

Miyagi Prefecture had incinerated or buried 5,630,000 tons, or 51 percent, of its 11,030,000-ton total. The prefecture will likely meet its goal of 59-percent disposal by the end of March.

Iwate Prefecture, meanwhile, had disposed of only 39 percent, well short of its 58-percent target by the end of March.

Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, did not set a disposal target and is behind the other two, at 31 percent.

Both Miyagi and Iwate had met with rejections from disposal sites in municipalities outside the prefectures, but the situation is now looking up. Currently, 15 prefectures have agreed to accept 620,000 tons of the waste, and the ministry plans to find municipalities that will help with the remaining 70,000 tons by the end of March, an official said.

Construction of all 31 temporary incinerators in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures was also completed by the end of January.

With disposal outside the prefectures progressing, the ministry says it will be able to complete the disposal process by March 2014 as scheduled.

However, the government added it will be difficult for Fukushima Prefecture to meet the deadline since radioactive ash cannot be taken elsewhere, making disposal work there correspondingly slow.

Meanwhile, all three prefectures are behind in the disposal of the 10,400,000 tons of sand and earth the March 11 tsunami left behind.

As of the end of January, only 1,890,000 tons, or 18 percent, has been disposed of, and it is unlikely that Miyagi and Iwate prefectures will meet the government March 2013 deadline.

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