January 04, 2013 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Cleanup crews in Fukushima Prefecture have
dumped soil and leaves contaminated with radioactive fallout into rivers. Water
sprayed on contaminated buildings has been allowed to drain back into the
environment. And supervisors have instructed workers to ignore rules on proper
collection and disposal of the radioactive waste......
But the
decontamination work witnessed by a team of Asahi Shimbun reporters shows that
contractual rules with the Environment Ministry have been regularly and
blatantly ignored, and in some cases, could violate environmental laws…………….
The
central government initially set aside 650 billion yen ($7.4 billion) to
decontaminate areas hit by radioactive substances from the March 11, 2011,
accident at the Fukushima plant. Since last summer, the Environment Ministry
has designated 11 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture for special
decontamination work.
Work has
already begun in four municipalities to remove radioactive substances from
areas within 20 meters of buildings, roads and farmland.
The
Environment Ministry itself does not have the know-how to decontaminate such a
large area, so it has given contracts to joint ventures led by major
construction companies to do the work.
A
contract worth 18.8 billion yen to decontaminate the municipality of Naraha was
awarded to a group that includes Maeda Corp. and Dai Nippon Construction. A
7.7-billion-yen contract for Iitate was signed with a group that includes
Taisei Corp., while a 4.3-billion-yen contract for Kawauchi was given to a
group led by Obayashi Corp. A consortium that includes Kajima Corp. was awarded
a 3.3-billion-yen contract to clean up Tamura.
In
signing the contracts, the Environment Ministry established work rules
requiring the companies to place all collected soil and leaves into bags to
ensure the radioactive materials would not spread further. The roofs and walls
of homes must be wiped by hand or brushes. The use of pressurized sprayers is
limited to gutters to avoid the spread of contaminated water. The water used in
such cleaning must be properly collected under the ministry’s rules.
A special
measures law for dealing with radioactive contamination of the environment
prohibits the dumping of such waste materials. Violators face a maximum prison
sentence of five years or a 10-million-yen fine.
From
Dec. 11 to 18, four Asahi reporters spent 130 hours observing work at various
locations in Fukushima Prefecture.
At 13
locations in Naraha, Iitate and Tamura, workers were seen simply dumping
collected soil and leaves as well as water used for cleaning rather than
securing them for proper disposal.
Photographs
were taken at 11 of those locations. The reporters also talked to about 20
workers who said they were following the instructions of employees of the
contracted companies or their subcontractors in dumping the materials. A common
response of the workers was that the decontamination work could never be
completed if they adhered to the strict rules.
Asahi
reporters obtained a recording of a supervisor at a site in Naraha instructing
a worker to dump cut grass over the side of the road.
Officials
of Maeda and Dai Nippon Construction have not responded to questions from The
Asahi Shimbun.
Four
workers at a site in Tamura said they were told to dispose of leaves and soil
in a river. At another site in Tamura, reporters saw the leader of the
subcontractor group kick a pile of leaves into the river.
A Kajima
official said the company was investigating the incident.
Although
the Environment Ministry has asked the construction companies to take radiation
readings before and after decontamination work, the limits on measurement sites
make it difficult to determine the extent to which decontamination is actually
being conducted.
"We
were told to clean up only those areas around a measurement site," one
worker said.
Environment
Ministry officials who work on-site said it is impossible to oversee every
aspect of the decontamination effort. But they said they have begun
investigating the practices revealed by The Asahi Shimbun.
The
latest revelations will call into question whether taxpayer money is being
properly used. Some living in Fukushima Prefecture have called for using the
decontamination funds to support the lives of the evacuees instead.
The 650
billion yen for initial decontamination covers limited areas in only four
municipalities. Questions will likely be raised on whether the decontamination
program now being implemented is the best use of taxpayer money.
(This
article was compiled from reports by Miki Aoki, Tamiyuki Kihara and Toshio
Tada.)
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