My recent posts have been about illegal handling of nuclear waste in Russia. One of the incidents I covered involved Russian dumping of nuclear waste into the Sea of Japan. The Japanese citizens reacted strongly to the news of this dumping. The Japanese government demanded a halt to Russian dumping. Ironically, it turns out that Japanese companies may have been involved in illegal dumping of Japanese nuclear waste.
When an earthquake struck on the ocean floor off of Fukushima in March of 2011, the resulting tsunami flooded the nuclear power station. As a result, three reactor cores suffered meltdown and sank into the Earth beneath the plant. Cooling water has been injected underground to try to control the melted cores. The contaminated water from the cooling was stored in temporary tanks which are beginning to leak. The area around the plant suffered fallout from the disaster and thousands of people were evacuated from the area. A great deal of cleanup has been taking place to restore the landscape and permit people to move back into the area.
Seven and a half billion dollars have been set aside by the Japanese government to deal with the land contaminated by the Fukushima fallout. The Environmental Ministry of Japan is working with contractors to clear soil and plants contaminated by radioactive materials from the Fukushima plant from within sixty feet of roads, buildings and farmland. Rules established by the Environmental Ministry include placing all contaminated soil and plant materials into sealed bags, wiping the roofs and walls of homes either by hand or with brushes, only using pressurized sprayers on gutters and collecting all water used in cleanup.
Some of the contractors hired to clean up the radioactive contamination have apparently been dumping contaminated soil and plants directly into rivers in the Fukushima area. The Governor of Fukushima has been complaining about the shoddy nature of the cleanup work. He is calling for an investigation of the cleanup program and has expressed concerns that some of the money may not have been spent well.
Asahi reporters have spent over a hundred hours touring worksites around Fukushima. They have photographed and written of many incidents at thirteen different locations where they saw contract workers dumping soil, plant materials and water without following the Environmental Ministry's guidelines. Interviews with some of the workers indicate that they were explicitly instructed just to dump the contaminated materials and water back into the environment.
I have written about the deep involvement of the Yakuza (Japanese organized crime syndicates) in the nuclear industry. They help recruit a lot of workers for nuclear power plants and nuclear cleanup work. With deep political connections, they often escape penalty for illegal practices. The Mafia in Italy is involved in illegal nuclear waste dumping and I would not be surprise to find that the Yakuza in Japan are also involved in illegal waste dumping.
Cleaning up the countryside around Fukushima:
