Contaminated Fukushima soil stored in flood zones, audit finds
By Ryota Goto
Many of the temporary storage sites for soil and waste contaminated by radiation from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are located in areas vulnerable to natural disasters, a government audit found.
The Board of Audit of Japan submitted an investigative report to the Diet on May 26 warning the central government to address the contaminated materials that would be in jeopardy in the event of disasters such as landslides and flooding caused by heavy rains, or tsunami.
The board studied the Environment Ministry’s reviews of the temporary storage sites for contaminated soil and designated radioactive waste from October 2019 to April 2020, and took issue with some of its assessments.
The results show 159 out of 170 sites in Fukushima Prefecture, where contaminated soil resulting from the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is being temporarily stored, are within areas deemed vulnerable to landslides and flooding from heavy rain.
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