Health fear as Japan tries to deal with fallout
Source: Agencies |
October 18, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IN the Japanese city of Ohtawara, more than 100 kilometers southwest of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, 400 tons of radioactive ash have piled up at a garbage incineration plant, which will run out of protected storage space in two weeks.
Further south, the city of Kashiwa has shut a high-tech incinerator temporarily because its advanced technology that minimizes the amount of ash has the side-effect of concentrating the radiation.
Ohtawara and Kashiwa are just two of a growing number of municipalities across northern Japan that face similar problems after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, damaged in March by an earthquake and tsunami, began leaking radiation.
Although the government aims to bring problems at the plant under control by December, researchers say problems arising from the radiation, scattered over mountains, rivers and residential areas, are likely to persist for many years.
Explaining why the ash cannot be taken to a nearby city dump, an Ohtawara city official said: "Residents are worried about their children's and grandchildren's health. Faced with such pleas, we just cannot make a move."
Ohtawara has already cut the frequency of rubbish collection by half to hold down the generation of radio-active ash, a by-product of burning contaminated leaves and branches.
Nonetheless, bags of ash will have to be left in outdoor space at the incineration facility with no proper shelter, the official said.
Radiation levels of most of the ash in question are low enough it could be buried in landfill sites, according to government guidelines.
But people living nearby remain worried.
Baku Nishio, co-director of Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, an anti-nuclear civic group, said: "Some people just do not want to have it near them no matter how low radiation levels are."
Following explosions at the Fukushima plant in March, rainfall has brought radiation down to the earth's surface.
Cesium has found its way into sewerage and, through the purification process, is concentrated in sludge.
In northern Japan, stored radioactive ash and dehydrated sludge from the sewage treatment process alone totaled 52,000 tons in mid-September, up 63 percent from levels at the end of July, and the volume is growing by about 360 tons a day.
Further south, the city of Kashiwa has shut a high-tech incinerator temporarily because its advanced technology that minimizes the amount of ash has the side-effect of concentrating the radiation.
Ohtawara and Kashiwa are just two of a growing number of municipalities across northern Japan that face similar problems after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, damaged in March by an earthquake and tsunami, began leaking radiation.
Although the government aims to bring problems at the plant under control by December, researchers say problems arising from the radiation, scattered over mountains, rivers and residential areas, are likely to persist for many years.
Explaining why the ash cannot be taken to a nearby city dump, an Ohtawara city official said: "Residents are worried about their children's and grandchildren's health. Faced with such pleas, we just cannot make a move."
Ohtawara has already cut the frequency of rubbish collection by half to hold down the generation of radio-active ash, a by-product of burning contaminated leaves and branches.
Nonetheless, bags of ash will have to be left in outdoor space at the incineration facility with no proper shelter, the official said.
Radiation levels of most of the ash in question are low enough it could be buried in landfill sites, according to government guidelines.
But people living nearby remain worried.
Baku Nishio, co-director of Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, an anti-nuclear civic group, said: "Some people just do not want to have it near them no matter how low radiation levels are."
Following explosions at the Fukushima plant in March, rainfall has brought radiation down to the earth's surface.
Cesium has found its way into sewerage and, through the purification process, is concentrated in sludge.
In northern Japan, stored radioactive ash and dehydrated sludge from the sewage treatment process alone totaled 52,000 tons in mid-September, up 63 percent from levels at the end of July, and the volume is growing by about 360 tons a day.
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