Nuclear Watch: Fukushima Transfer of tainted soil start + 53 families live evacuation zones 3/3/2015

As cleanup work continues, workers in Fukushima Prefecture will start transferring contaminated materials to an intermediate storage facility. Soil and debris tainted by nuclear fallout from the 2011 accident have been piling up across the prefecture. Construction of a storage facility began only last month due to difficulties in finding a suitable site. It is located in an area between 2 towns near the stricken nuclear plant. The transfer will start on Friday, without waiting for completion of the facility. The Environment Ministry is aiming to transport 1,000 cubic meters of contaminated materials each from 43 municipalities in the prefecture, during the first year. So far the government has only secured enough land to accommodate 20,000 cubic meters, roughly 0.1 percent of the planned size. The completed 16-square-kilometers intermediate storage facility will hold up to 22 million cubic meters of contaminated soil and debris. It is unclear when construction of the facility will be completed due to difficult negotiations with landowners. At the same time the government must start looking for a final disposal site for the contaminated materials. Officials promised the citizens of Fukushima that if they host the intermediate facility for 30 years, the final storage site would be outside their prefecture. People from Okuma, one of the 2 towns hosting the intermediate facility, have expressed mixed feelings. A man in his 30s who used to live within the planned site said he has given up returning to the town. He believes the intermediate facility will end up becoming the final one, as other prefectures will not want to accept the contaminated debris. A woman whose home stands near the planned site said she will not be able to return to her hometown when the facility is completed. http://bit.ly/1vbpm0D