Govt to Secure Up to 70 Pct of Fukushima Radioactive Waste Site

   Fukushima, March 27 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Environment Ministry indicated Sunday that it will likely be able to acquire by fiscal 2020 some 640-1,150 hectares, or 40-70 pct, of a site in Fukushima for a planned interim storage facility for soil and other waste from radiation decontamination work after a 2011 nuclear accident in the northeastern prefecture.
   The prospect is included in a five-year roadmap for the establishment of the interim storage facility, which was presented to the day's meeting in the city of Fukushima of a council comprising the prefectural government and local municipalities.
   The 1,600-hectare site for the facility straddles the towns of Okuma and Futaba in the prefecture, home to Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which was heavily damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
   If 640-1,150 hectares are secured, 5 million to 12.5 million cubic meters of radiation-tainted waste can be transferred to the site.
   The ministry aims to finish by fiscal 2020 the transportation to the site of radioactive soil that is now stored at such places as school premises and residential areas.

(2016/03/27-17:16)