As the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Plant drags on, worries are growing particularly among Fukushima Prefecture residents over drawn-out and in some cases apparently futile nuclear decontamination operations.

The unease is especially strong in areas in and around mountains that must be repeatedly decontaminated, as every rainfall brings a new batch of radioactive substance-contaminated leaves and soil washing down from the hills. Since some 70 percent of Fukushima Prefecture is mountainous, such instances of regular recontamination could occur over a broad area, while the same effect has also been observed in some undeveloped areas of cities.

The central government is considering paying for any decontamination operations conducted by local governments at sites with radiation emissions of 1 millisievert per year or more, but residents in places faced with regular recontamination after every major rainfall are concerned the national government may not keep the cleanup funding flowing.

The city of Fukushima decontaminated its Onami and Watari district in July and August after a surge in local radiation levels. In the week following the end of the operation, the city took fresh radiation readings at 885 points, of which seven actually registered levels exceeding those found before the decontamination. One gutter measured even showed a rise from 3.67 microsieverts per hour before the cleanup to 4.63 after the work.

“Radiation increased close to the mountains and in spots where water and soil washed down the slopes,” the Fukushima Municipal Government stated.

One 52-year-old resident of the city’s Onami district, whose home backs onto woodland slopes, told the Mainichi that soil washes into her backyard with every rainfall. Radiation emissions at her front door are 1 microsievert per hour or less, but in the backyard they’re more than 2 microsieverts per hour.

“Everywhere around here is in the same situation,” she says.

Meanwhile, a man living in the Watari district with his wife and his son’s family discovered that the waterway running by his property had cesium levels of more than 300,000 becquerels after a citizen’s group did tests in the area.

“There’s no point in doing just one round of official decontamination,” he told the Mainichi. “We residents will get nowhere near anything like peace of mind if decontamination operations can’t be done regularly.”

According to guidelines in a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries study released on Sept. 30, removing fallen leaves and other natural forest debris from the area within about 20 meters of residential properties is effective in keeping contamination at bay. However, the guidelines also warn that “conifer needles also accumulate radioactive cesium over time, and can normally be expected to fall after three to four years,” signaling a constant and long-term need to keep clearing properties of fallen needles.

The municipality of Fukushima has created a plan to bring radiation exposure in all inhabited areas of the city to below a microsievert per hour within two years. As part of this, cleanup operations will begin in the Onami district in October. No schedule has been set for decontaminating the city’s mountains and forests, but the municipal government is considering removal of the leaf soil (soil made up of decaying leaves) within 75 meters of local properties, pending the consent of land owners — significantly more than the forestry ministry’s 20-meter guideline. It’s thought that the decontamination process will have to go on for a long time to come, but the city has said it has yet to receive confirmation that financial support will continue to flow from the central government.

Furthermore, the problem of where to put all the contaminated material collected in the cleanups remains a serious headache. The central government has begun considering national forests as dump sites, but according to a disposal official in Date, Fukushima Prefecture, “’20 meters of forest’ applied to every region here would be an enormous amount of material. Setting aside a site for that much soil is extremely difficult. On top of that, how could we secure enough workers to do the job?”

On top of concerns about the sheer volume of contaminated material and manpower, there is also the issue of the important natural roles played by forests, such as collecting water that eventually ends up as well water. The village of Kawauchi, removed from the emergency evacuation standby zone at the end of September, is almost 90 percent mountain forest, and depends on streams and well water for all its fresh water needs.

The village plans to decontaminate all the forest under its jurisdiction over the next 20 years, but “the village needs the forests to guarantee its source of fresh water,” the decontamination project official said. “Is there no way to do decontamination while at the same time preserving the functions of the forest, without cutting down the trees?”

Mainichi Shimbun , October 11, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111011p2a00m0na020000c.html

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Gov’t decontamination work to cover low-radiation areas

TOKYO (Kyod) — The Environment Ministry has decided to widen the area covered by a government-funded decontamination project to those with a minimum annual radiation exposure of 1 millisievert in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, officials said Tuesday.

The ministry lowered the minimum annual radiation exposure level from the previous 5 millisieverts in the face of calls by local governments.

The policy change is aimed at decontaminating low-radiation areas frequented by children, such as schools, the officials said.

The latest decision also includes the government’s responsibility to dispose of incineration ashes and sludge contaminated with radioactive cesium of more than 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.

Under the envisioned plan the government will decontaminate relatively highly contaminated areas, such as no-go zones near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant that was crippled by the March 11 earthquake-tsunami disaster. Local governments will work out decontamination plans for other areas.

The government will also try to reduce the annual exposure for adults by 50 percent and for children by 60 percent in two years through the end of August 2013 in areas with annual radiation at less than 20 millisieverts.

On the controversial issue of disposing of radiation-contaminated incineration ashes and sludge, the central government will do so in the prefectures where they accumulated, according to the basic plan.

Kyodo Press, October 11, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111011p2g00m0dm107000c.html

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No-go zone soil to be moved in 2-1/2 yrs

Soil contaminated with radioactive substances in the no-entry zone and the expanded evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant will be removed by the end of March 2014, the Environment Ministry has announced.

According to a draft plan compiled by the ministry, the radioactive soil will be removed in 2-1/2 years—except from areas where the level of radioactive contamination is too high—and taken to temporary storage sites.

A draft of the ministry ordinance said the central government will take responsibility for disposing of incinerated ash and sludge, including from areas other than the two zones, if their level of radioactive cesium exceeds 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.

This means that not only Fukushima Prefecture but also the whole Tohoku region and the Tokyo metropolitan area will be included in the ministry’s plan.

The government is expected to approve the basic policy on the disposal of contaminated soil at a Cabinet meeting in early November.

The ministry gave the March 2014 deadline only to the no-entry and expanded evacuation zones. The decontamination work aims to reduce annual radiation count in the areas to less than 20 millisieverts, a senior ministry official said.

However, the ministry has not set any concrete target level or deadline for places where radiation counts remain too high to conduct decontamination work. The basic policy draft only says the ministry will try to determine effective measures by carrying out model projects in this regard.

The ministry set a long-term target of lowering the radioactive contamination level to 1 millisievert or lower annually in all areas, including the no-entry and expanded evacuation zone. The government will be responsible for decontaminating all these areas, it said.

Earlier, the ministry told local governments in Fukushima Prefecture that the government will be fully responsible for decontamination in areas with 5 millisieverts or higher, but partially responsible in areas with between 1 and less than 5 millisieverts.

The announcement sparked fierce opposition from the local governments.

The draft said the government will be responsible for securing interim storage facilities, where soil and sludge will be kept before final disposal, and final disposal sites where the soil and sludge will be permanently buried.

The basic policy draft was compiled based on the special measures law on handling environmental pollution caused by radioactive substances, which was established in August.

After gaining Cabinet approval, the basic policy is scheduled to come into force in January. The policy will be applicable retrospectively for local governments that have been conducting decontamination and disposal work. To promote decontamination over a wide area, the ministry has demanded 1.15 trillion yen for fiscal 2011-13, including funds in a not-yet-compiled third supplementary budget for this fiscal year.

Yomiuri Shimbun , October 12, 2011
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111011005550.htm

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Fukushima Pref. starts thyroid exams for children

FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) — The prefectural government of Fukushima on Sunday started ultrasonic thyroid examinations for children aged up to 18 when the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant began in March.

In a move almost without precedent in the world, around 360,000 children in the prefecture will be examined at the Fukushima Medical University.

Parents in Fukushima have shown concern over the issue as many children suffered thyroid cancer after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

The local government plans to at first examine 4,908 children living close to the nuclear power plant, and then to complete the whole process by March 2014, officials said.

The children will go through follow-up exams every two years until they turn 20. After that, the checkups will be conducted every five years over the person’s lifetime.

Detailed exams will be conducted if any pathological lesions are detected.

Kydo Press, October 9, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/10/09/20111009p2g00m0dm016000c.html

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Most municipalities undecided on where to store contaminated soil

Only two of 59 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture have decided where to build temporary storage areas for soil contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.

One reason so many have not yet decided on a location is uncertainty over where an intermediate storage facility for the radioactive soil will be established. In fact, all 59 municipalities contacted by The Asahi Shimbun said they did not want to host the intermediate storage facility.

Another reason that municipalities have not picked sites for temporary storage of the contaminated soil is opposition from residents.

“If something polluted should be brought nearby, we may no longer be able to drink our well water,” said a 78-year-old man, whose home in Kawauchi is near a candidate site for a storage area.

The central government will handle soil decontamination in the six municipalities that fall completely in either the no-entry zone or the area where preparations must be made for emergency evacuations around the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Of the remaining 53 municipalities, 28 plan to compile a decontamination strategy while 19 are considering such a move. The six municipalities that have no intention of drawing up such plans are all located in the Aizu region, which is distant from the Fukushima plant.

The only municipalities that have selected locations for temporary storage of contaminated soil are Izumizaki and Aizu-Bange. The temporary storage areas will be set up on municipality-owned land.

Three other municipalities — Fukushima, Otama and Samegawa — have only selected temporary storage areas for certain areas under their jurisdiction.

Many other municipalities said local residents will not agree to temporary storage areas if they do not know how long the areas will house the radioactive soil.

Asahi Shimbun , October 10, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110080286.html

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Cesium levels off Fukushima Prefecture 58 times higher than before quake

Levels of radioactive cesium 137 in waters off Fukushima Prefecture are 58 times higher than before the March 11 quake that crippled a nuclear power plant there, a government survey shows.

The science ministry conducted sophisticated sensitive analysis of seawater sampled in 11 locations, mostly about 45-320 kilometers off the coasts of Fukushima, Miyagi, Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures, in late August.

Cesium 137 levels about 140 kilometers east of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant came to 0.11 becquerel per liter, or 58 times more than in 2009, the ministry said Oct. 5.

Still, the figures for all locations were less than 1 percent of the legal standard of 90 becquerels for ocean waters.

It was the first sensitive analysis covering large areas.

In a 2009 ministry survey off the four prefectures, maximum readings were between 0.0015 and 0.0023 becquerel per liter.

The latest survey detected 0.10 becquerel about 215 kilometers southeast of the Fukushima No. 1 plant, 50 times more than in 2009, and 0.076 becquerel about 200 kilometers northeast of the plant, 33 times more.

Seawater sampled off Chiba Prefecture contained 0.0012-0.0023 becquerel, roughly unchanged from 2009.

BY HIROSHI ISHIZUKA, Asahi Shimbun Staff Writer, October 7, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110060261.html

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