By: KIYOSHI TAKENAKA, Municipalities face problems after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, devastated by March’s quake and tsunami, spewed radiation into the atmosphere, In the Japanese city of Ohtawara, more than 100km south-west of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 400 tons of radioactive ash have piled up at a waste incineration plant, which will run out of protected storage space in two weeks.Further south, the city of Kashiwa has been forced to temporarily shut a hi-tech incinerator because its advanced technology that minimises the amount of ash produced has the side-effect of boosting the concentration of radiation. Ohtawara and Kashiwa are just two of a growing number of municipalities across northern Japan that face similar problems after the Fukushima Daiichi plant, devastated by March’s quake and tsunami, began spewing radiation into the atmosphere. Although the government aims to bring the Fukushima crisis under control by December, researchers say problems from the radiation, scattered over mountains, rivers and residential areas, will persist for years. Ohtawara has halved the frequency of rubbish collection to keep down the generation of radioactive ash, a byproduct of burning contaminated leaves and branches. Nonetheless, fresh bags of radioactive ash will have to be left outdoors at the incineration facility with no proper shelter.Radiation levels of most of the ash in question are below 8000 becquerels a kilogram, low enough to be buried in dumping grounds, according to guidelines. But people living nearby remain worried. "Some people just don’t want to have it near them, no matter how low radiation levels are," says Baku Nishio, co-director of the Citizens Nuclear Information Centre, an antinuclear civic group. "It is up to the government to set up storage facilities, but finding the place can be a real challenge."
BusinessDay - Japan faces growing radioactive ash problems
