Dozens of bags of mildly radioactive soil collected from near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant were delivered to the Japanese prime minister’s office in an effort to show it is safe for reuse.
Soon after the March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, authorities scraped a layer of contaminated soil from swathes of land in Fukushima to reduce radiation levels.
A vast quantity of soil – 14 million cubic metres – has since been stored at facilities near the Fukushima Daiichi plant, with the government setting a 2045 deadline for its transfer elsewhere in the country.
Most of the stored soil contains low levels of radiation equivalent to or less than one X-ray per year for people who directly stand on or work with it, the environment ministry said.
But with few willing to take the contaminated earth, the government took it upon itself to reuse some of the soil to show it is not dangerous.
Yesterday, workers unloaded bags of the dirt from a truck in the front yard of the prime minister’s office in central Tokyo.
According to earlier reports, the slightly radioactive soil will be used in flower beds.
A layer of ordinary soil around 20cm deep will sit on top of the Fukushima soil, according to the environment ministry. — AFP
