TOKYO (AP) – Japan said Tuesday it plans to use slightly radioactive soil stored near the Fukushima nuclear power plant in tsunami wreck, and it plans to use the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the flowerbed of Prime Minister Isbauhauba’s office, indicating that reuse is safe.
The soil was removed from the entire Fukushima prefecture as part of the decontamination work following the 2011 nuclear disaster, and has since been temporarily stored. Some of them have since reached sufficient levels of reuse, officials say.
The use of soil in Isba’s offices in Tokyo is intended to reassure the public that it is safe. The government said it plans to reuse the soil for flower beds and other purposes on the agency’s premises. The plan is based on guidelines set by the Ministry of the Environment in March and approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The timing of soil use and other details still need to be resolved, and the government is expected to compile the roadmap for the summer project.
The Fukushima disaster caused a large amount of radioactive material to erupt from plants, polluting the surrounding area, and some areas were still unoccupied and further decontamination work was required.
Japan is stuck with a large amount of dirt, chopped wood and other debris collected during intensive decontamination operations. It has 14 million cubic meters of soil and other materials stored in a vast outdoor facility that spans the towns of Fakka and Okuma, near Fukushima plants. The soil does not contain anything from inside the plant.
The government has pledged to find sites of soil disposal outside the province by 2045, and authorities have proposed that low-risk materials can be used in other public works projects across the country.
Yoshimasa Yoshimasa, Prime Minister of the Soil Task Force Meeting, called for a government-wide effort to promote understanding of soil use in reconstruction projects and to provide a good example starting from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Ministry of the Environment said the soil is used as a foundation material and is safely covered with soil above sufficient thickness to keep radiation at negligible levels.
But there is a lot of public uncertainty. The government has already been forced to suspend plans to experiment using some of the soil in flowerbeds in several parks in Tokyo and surrounding areas after the protests.
The IAEA provides support in the Fukushima decommissioning process. This requires removing more than 880 tons of melted fuel debris.
In 2023, Japan began to drain radioactive wastewater treated from plants to the ocean, reducing the risk of accidental leaks and creating spaces to build facilities needed to remove melted fuel.
