Fukushima city cleanup begins, with no long term solution in sight

Nor has Tokyo offered any long-term solution for the radioactive waste that is quickly accumulating around the prefecture

In Fukushima City, Decontamination Begins. But What to Do with the Radioactive Waste?, TIME, With reporting by Terrence Terashima, by Krista Mahr , August 9, 2011“…..Nearly five months after March 11, the physical process of cleaning up the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl has begun. Untold numbers of buildings, sidewalks, trees, gardens, parks, streets, school yards and gutters were dusted in radioactive particles after the earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Though a circle within a 20-km radius of the plant and some other high-radiation spots remain evacuated, a much larger area is still home to tens of thousands of people who want those particles out of their lives as soon as possible.

The cities of Fukushima, Date and Minami-soma have announced ambitious plans to decontaminate their cities, starting with schools and other parts of town frequented by kids. More municipalities are expected to follow. Though iodine, one of the elements released after the explosions at the plant, only has a half-life of eight days and has already decayed, cesium 134 and 137 stay radioactive for 4 and 30 years, respectively. “It’s long,” says Ishii. “Fukushima cannot wait for it.”….

The central government says that it plans to set aside up to $300 million for decontaminating schools and playgrounds affected by the nuclear crisis. But Tokyo, seemingly preoccupied with what appears to be the decline of yet another prime minister, has yet to offer its help getting the job done. In Minami-soma, where decontamination will begin this month, help will be coming from experts at Tokyo University.

Nor has Tokyo offered any long-term solution for the radioactive waste that is quickly accumulating around the prefecture. In Fukushima City, officials has been disposing some waste at an industrial dumping site, but residents in the area are —understandably — unenthusiastic about that solution. As of August 1, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun, radioactive sludge from sewage and water plants was building up at that site at a rate of about 14 tons per day. The Japanese daily conducted a survey indicating that 120,000 tons of sludge is also being stored at sites in Tokyo and 13 other prefectures outside the Fukushima region. The government has said it plans to pass a law mandating how topsoil and other waste will be handled, but it is unclear when that will be passed.

As parks and school grounds are stripped of topsoil, the city is doing the only thing it can do: burying the irradiated soil on the sites where it has been removed. In a small playground behind a public housing unit in Fukushima City, several workers shovel irradiated dirt into a deep square hole that has been lined with rubber. The contaminated dirt will be covered in at least 50 centimeters of clean topsoil, according to city guidelines, a process that officials say has lowered radiation levels by 80% in schools. (An official at Minami-soma said his city would follow the same procedure.) According to measurements the city has taken, when dirt that measured 4.13 microsieverts was buried and covered, radiation levels on the surface dropped to .13.

It’s hardly a perfect solution, but officials say it’s the only one that they have for now.