#Radioactive Japan: Miyagi, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Chiba to Have Final Disposal Sites for Highly Radioactive Ashes from Garbage Incineration, Sludge

Goshi Hosono's Ministry of the Environment is on the sudden offensive against citizens and residents of Kanto and Tohoku, again.

According to the Yomiuri Shinbun article, the Ministry of the Environment is already talking with the officials in the municipalities in three prefectures to built final disposal sites in their cities and towns.

As the wide-area disposal of disaster debris winds down as it is now widely revealed that there is simply not enough debris to widely distribute, Mr. Hosono looks desperate to do something so that he can claim he has made people "share the pain".

From Yomiuri Shinbun (8/21/2012):

汚染ごみ焼却灰、４県の国有地に最終処分場

Final disposal sites for ashes from contaminated garbage to be built in the land owned by the national government in four prefectures

東京電力福島第一原発事故後に発生した高濃度の放射性物質に汚染されたごみの焼却灰や汚泥の処分を巡り、環境省は、宮城、栃木、茨城、千葉の４県については県内に１か所ずつ、国有地に最終処分場を設けることを決めた。

Concerning the disposal of ashes from incinerating the contaminated garbage and of contaminated sludge as the result of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, the Ministry of the Environment has decided to build a final disposal site in the land owned by the national government in each of the four prefectures, Miyagi, Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Chiba.

９月末までに候補地を選定、提示する。

The locations will be selected by the end of September and announced.

　原発事故以降、東北、関東地方のごみ焼却施設や上下水道施設では、放射性セシウムが濃縮された焼却灰や汚泥が大量に発生。１キロ・グラムあたり８０００ベクレルを超える廃棄物は国の責任で処分することになっており、９都県で計４万２５７５トン（８月３日現在）に上る。

Since the start of the nuclear accident, a large amount of ashes and sludge with high concentration of radioactive cesium has been generated at garbage incineration plants, water purification plants and sewer treatment plants in Tohoku and Kanto regions. The waste with more than 8,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium is to be disposed of by the national government. As of August 3, the amount of such waste is 42,575 tonnes in 9 prefectures [including Tokyo].

　同省は、特に発生量が多く、保管場所の確保が難しい４県では国有地を活用することとした。宮城、栃木、茨城の３県で市町村の担当者を集めた説明会を開くなど、すでに調整に入った。

The Ministry has decided to utilize the land owned by the national government in the four prefectures where particularly large amounts [of ashes and sludge highly contaminated with cesium] have been generated and the storage space is hard to find. In Miyagi, Tochigi, and Ibaraki, the Ministry has already held meetings with officials in local municipalities in an effort to finalize the plans.

So, the local officials have been talking with the Ministry for some time. I bet they haven't said a word about it to the residents.

Who said "Render unto Caesar"? Render unto TEPCO the things which are TEPCO's.

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Japanese Government to Municipalities Against Accepting Radioactive Waste: "Shut Up"

That, in my crude paraphrasing, is what the Japanese national government is telling those municipalities in Japan that are siding with the residents who are against receiving radioactive waste - whether it is radioactive fly ashes from incineration plants or radioactive sewage sludge - to be burned, buried, or recycle in their towns, as long as the radioactivity is 8,000 becquerels/kg and less.

Or more formally according to NHK,

the Ministry of the Environment has requested the municipalities throughout Japan not to restrict the acceptance of waste without any scientific evidence and legal basis and not to instruct the private waste processing companies not to accept the waste.

The national government has declared it is safe, and IAEA agrees with them, says NHK.

Does IAEA really say it is safe to bury 8,000 becquerels/kg radioactive cesium in a regular dump? Somehow, I have my doubts.

"Request" is a strong word, bureaucratically speaking, but short of outright order which may yet to come.

NHK News (1/21/2012):

基準以下の廃棄物 処分を要請

The national government requests the processing of radioactive waste if within the safety limit

首都圏などで出るごみの焼却灰や汚泥のうち、放射性セシウムの濃度が国が定めた基準を下回っているにもかかわらず、ほかの自治体にある施設に処分を頼んでも、断られるケースが相次いでいることを受けて、環境省は、全国の自治体に受け入れを拒否しないよう要請しました。

As municipalities continue to refuse to accept and process the ashes from garbage incineration or sewage sludge in the Tokyo metropolitan region and other locations, the Ministry of the Environment has requested the municipalities throughout Japan not to refuse.

ごみの焼却灰や汚泥については、環境省が、放射性セシウムの濃度が１キログラム当たり８０００ベクレル以下であれば、通常の埋め立て処分をしても差し支えないとする基準を示しています。ところが、首都圏や東北地方では基準値以下のものであっても処分を依頼していたほかの自治体にある施設から、周辺住民などの反対で受け入れを断られるケースが相次いでいます。

As to the garbage ashes and sewage sludge, the Ministry of the Environment has already set the standard of 8,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium; if the radioactivity is 8,000 becquerels/kg and less, it is OK to bury the ashes and sewage sludge in a regular landfill. However, there are many cases in which processing of ashes and sludge from the Tokyo metropolitan region and in Tohoku region has been refused by the municipalities under contract, due to the opposition from the residents in the receiving municipalities.

こうした状況を受けて、環境省は、８０００ベクレル以下の焼却灰や汚泥を埋め立てても周辺住民などの安全に問題がないことは国内の専門家だけではなく、ＩＡＥＡ＝国際原子力機関も認めているとして、科学的な根拠や法的な根拠なしにむやみに受け入れを制限したり、処分業者に対して受け入れの中止を指導したりしないよう全国の自治体に要請しました。

To remedy the situation, the Ministry of the Environment has requested the municipalities throughout Japan not to restrict the acceptance of waste without any scientific evidence and legal basis and not to instruct the private waste processing companies not to accept the waste. According to the Ministry, not only the experts in Japan but also the IAEA agree that when the ashes and sewage sludge with 8,000 becquerels/kg and less radioactive cesium are buried in a landfill, safety of the residents living near the landfill is not a problem.

環境省は「基準値以下のものであれば安全であることを理解してもらいたい。適切な処理ができるよう自治体との調整や住民への説明は今後も続けていきたい」としています。

The Ministry of the Environment says, "We want them to understand that if it is within the safety standard, it is safe. We will continue to coordinate with the municipalities and explain to the residents so that the appropriate processing [of the radioactive waste] can be done."

Next, I fully expect the Ministry of the Environment to say the same thing about disaster debris in Miyagi and Iwate, which the Tokyo government has been merrily burning in the municipal incinerators and dumping the ashes into the final processing location which is a landfill in the middle of Tokyo Bay. (Liquefaction, anyone?)

In some municipalities, landfills are located near the water sources, and the landfills have been known for leaking toxic substances into the water by faulty or broken filtering systems.

Residents of east Japan including Kanto region are against receiving it because they do not want added radioactive materials on top of what they already have. Residents of west Japan do not want it because most of west Japan has been spared of serious contamination like that of east Japan, and do not want to contaminate their soil, air and water.

More ordinary people on the net are getting more knowledgeable than the government officials and politicians. They may have no problem coming up with the scientific evidence and legal basis to refuse the radioactive waste.

By the way, the ashes from burning the regular household garbage in Iwaki City in Fukushima Prefecture has been burned in the melting furnace into slags in Saitama Prefecture, which are then turned into sands to be used in the public works in Saitama. The prefecture didn't know about it until citizens told the officials, as the prefectural government is not involved in the transaction between the private business in Saitama and a municipality in other prefecture.

An increasing number of Japanese seem, finally, to think if they allow the government to get its way, nowhere in their country can remain clean (excluding the background of course from the nuclear fallout from the atmospheric testing). They'd better hurry and educate their non-net-based friends and family members.

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Japan's Ministry of Environment to Allow #Radioactive Ashes to Be Buried in Regular Waste Final Disposal Sites

Here we go. Radioactive Japan (or at least East Japan). Now all radioactive debris and garbage can and will be burned and buried.

The news headlines at various media outlets say "ashes that contain up to 100,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium", but if you read the news carefully, as long as there are "countermeasures" to prevent the leakage of radioactive cesium into the surrounding environment, the Ministry is prepared to allow the ashes with any amount of radioactive materials to be buried in regular waste final disposal facilities.

From NHK News (8/28/2011):

原発事故で放射性物質が付着したがれきや一般ごみを燃やした灰について、環境省は、含まれる放射性セシウムが１キログラム当たり８０００ベクレルを超えるものも、地下水への流出を防ぐ対策をしたうえで、埋め立てができるとする方針をまとめました。

Regarding the ashes after burning the disaster debris and regular household garbage contaminated with radioactive materials, the Ministry of the Environment has decided on a policy that will allow the burial of ashes that exceed 8,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, as long as there are countermeasures in place to prevent the leakage into the ground water.

これは、２７日開かれた環境省の専門家による会合で示されたものです。放射性物質が付着したがれきの処理について、環境省はこれまで、燃やした灰に含まれる放射性セシウムが１キログラム当たり８０００ベクレル以下であれば埋め立てを認める方針を示していましたが、より濃度が高い灰については一時保管するよう求め、処理方法の検討を続けてきました。

The new policy was revealed during the meeting of experts affiliated with the Ministry of the Environment on August 27. So far, the Ministry's policy has been to allow the ashes with 8,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium and below to be buried, but require the ashes that exceed that level to be stored temporarily while the Ministry decides on the disposal method.

新たな方針では、放射性セシウムが８０００ベクレルを超え１０万ベクレル以下の場合は、放射性セシウムが地下水に流れ出ないよう、灰をセメントで固めたりコンクリートの容器に入れたりしたうえで埋め立てられるとしています。また、１０万ベクレルを超える灰はさらなる対策として屋根やコンクリートの囲いがある処分場に埋め立てるとしています。

Under the new policy, if radioactive cesium in the ashes exceeds 8,000 becquerels/kg but does not exceed 100,000 becquerels/kg, the ashes are allowed to be buried after they are bound with cement or put in a concrete container. If radioactive cesium exceeds 100,000 becquerels, then the ashes should be buried in the disposal facilities with a roof and/or with the concrete shield.

一方、これまでに関東や東北地方で一般ごみを燃やした灰からも、１キログラム当たり８０００ベクレルを超える放射性セシウムが検出されるケースが相次いでいましたが、環境省は一般ごみの焼却灰についてもがれきの処理方針に沿って埋め立てを認めることを決めました。これによって、各自治体は一時保管していた焼却灰の埋め立てを進めることになりますが、処分場周辺の住民の理解を得ることが課題となることも予想されます。

Radioactive cesium exceeding 8,000 becquerels/kg has been detected from the ashes from burning the regular household garbage in Kanto and Tohoku regions. The Ministry of the Environment has decided to apply the same rule as the disaster debris and allow the ashes to be buried. The municipalities will be able to bury the ashes that they have stored temporarily, but it may be difficult to obtain consent from the residents living near the disposal facilities.

The number "100,000 becquerels/kg" is significant in a sense, as the highest level of radioactive cesium found from ashes after burning the household garbage is 95,300 becquerels/kg in Fukushima Prefecture (link in Japanese). The number is high enough to clear the Fukushima garbage ashes, and it is probably high enough to clear garbage ashes from anywhere else.

Besides, as the NHK article states, even if it exceeds 100,000 becquerels/kg, all they need to do is to bury it in a disposal site with a roof or the concrete shield.

This new policy is to be applied to ashes from disaster debris and regular garbage that are radioactive. It's not mentioned in the article but the ashes and slag from the radioactive sewage sludge will be likely to be disposed under the same policy - i.e. burn and bury. (And remember the "mix and match" scheme.)

In the meantime, some garbage incinerators and sludge incinerators at waste processing plants and sewage treatment plants in cities in Kanto have become so radioactive that they have to be shut down. (More later.)

The entire country is to become the nuclear waste disposal site, because of one wrecked nuclear power plant. Talk about socializing the cost.

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#Radiation in Japan: Pile of Radioactive Garbage Ashes Next to an Apartment in Fukushima City

From Twitpic of Massahisa Sato, member of the Upper House of the Japan's Diet. Bags of radioactive ashes from the garbage incinerating plant are piled up high right near an apartment building in Fukushima City. He says some of the residents in the apartment building have evacuated for the fear of radiation coming off that pile. (Click the photo to enlarge to see the details.)

On a separate, culturally-correct "rumor", the Japan Buddhist Federation may be planning to organize a nationwide ceremony whereby the debris in the disaster-affected areas in Tohoku will be burned to pray for the spirit of the dead at its member temples throughout Japan.

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#Radioactive Beef from Fukushima Sold in 26 Prefectures

The meat from the cows that ate highly radioactive rice hay in Fukushima has been shipped, sold, and consumed in many cases in 26 prefectures in Japan. There are 47 prefectures in Japan.

When the news first broke, the meat was supposed to have been sold in only several prefectures; then 8 then 10, now 26 and counting.

People, from Mayor of Yokohama City on down, say "We thought it was safe because it was being sold in the market."

According to NHK's Kabun (Science and Culture) Blog's tweet, the prefectures are:

Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Niigata, Nagano, Miyagi, Yamagata, Iwate, Akita, Fukushima, Aichi, Ishikawa, Fukui, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Osaka, Kyoto, Mie, Hyogo, Ehime, Kagawa, Fukuoka.

The only prefectures in the eastern half of Japan that haven't been found with the contaminated beef are: Toyama, Aomori, Hokkaido

The Japanese people who are against nuclear power plants had better start demonstrating against radioactive food and radioactive garbage, among other things, that have been forced on them through the government action (like raising the safety limit for radioactive garbage ashes) and non-action (like not testing rice hay for radiation). They may get their wish of nuke-free Japan, but unless they start to fight the small details right now, the nuke-free Japan may become inhabitable.

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#Radiation in Japan: Ashes With Up To 100K Becquerels/Kg Cesium May Be Buried, If Ministry of Environment So Decides

And it is likely that it will do so.

Do not believe for a moment it is only within Fukushima Prefecture, because it isn't. Prefectures and municipalities that have found radioactive cesium in the ashes in the household garbage incinerators have already adopted the Fukushima standard as their standard, due to the lack of specific guidance from the government addressed to their specific localities.

The Ministry of the Environment has already issued a guidance to mix the potentially radioactive debris with regular industrial waste and burn, so that the resulting ashes will test lower than 8,000 becquerels/kg cesium content. Now the limit will be 100,000 becquerels/kg; coupled with the mix and match operation, probably they can bury just about anything. Maybe even those radioactive debris and waste on Fukushima I Nuke Plant.

According to the Guardian article on July 13, the workers at Fukushima I Nuke Plant are still removing 23,000 firefighter suits discarded around the reactors, packing them up, and shipping to a nuclear waste disposal facility. Why bother?

Spread radiation with impunity!

From Jiji Tsushin (7/14/2011):

10万ベクレルまで大幅引き上げ＝福島の放射性がれき埋め立て基準－環境省

Limit for burying radioactive debris from Fukushima to be raised to 100,000 Becquerels/Kg - Ministry of the Environment

　環境省は14日、福島第1原発事故で放射性物質に汚染された恐れのある福島県内のがれきの焼却灰について、一般の最終処分場での埋め立てを認める放射性セシウム濃度の基準を、現在の1キロ当たり8000ベクレル以下から10万ベクレル以下まで引き上げる検討を始めた。同省の有識者会議で、地下水への汚染防止策を施すことなどで、安全に埋め立てができる条件を整理する。

Japan's Ministry of the Environment started the discussion on July 14 to raise the limit for radioactive cesium in the ashes from debris in Fukushima that are suspected to be radioactive in the wake of the Fukushima I Nuclear Plant accident. The current safety limit is 8,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. The Ministry is considering to raise this limit to 100,000 becquerels/kg. The Ministry will call a meeting of experts to come up with the conditions for burying the ashes safely, such as measures to prevent groundwater contamination.

　同省は先月、8000ベクレル以下なら埋め立てを認め、このレベルを超えると処分場に一時保管する方針を示した。ただ、東京都や千葉県の一般ごみから、8000ベクレルを超える焼却灰が相次ぎ見つかっていることなどから、一時保管後の処分方法の検討を急ぐことにした。

Last month, the Ministry announced its policy to allow the burying of the ashes as long as they test 8,000 becquerels/kg and lower, and to temporarily store the ashes if they exceed that level. However, with discoveries of ashes from regular household wastes that exceed 8,000 becquerels/kg in Tokyo and Chiba, the Ministry has decided to speed up on the policy on the disposal after the temporary storage.

You can be assured that these experts would never object as a group. Probably there are one or two who will raise a token concern (that's their role), but the majority will give them assurance that it will be OK, and the Ministry will quote this expert group as the reason for its decision.

I will look up information on the final waste disposal plant specs in Japan.

I can almost bet there are no rubber liners or anything to prevent any leakage of toxic substance, not to mention radioactive waste that should be going to nuclear waste disposal facilities to begin with. Why do I think that way? Because if the so-called experts are thinking about putting in measures to prevent groundwater contamination, there is none, as of now.

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#Radiation in Japan: As It Is Being Spread Almost Willfully, The Country Is Getting Unhinged

I have a distinct feeling that Japan is getting totally unhinged.

Consider these news summaries. Consider them together. Do they make sense to you? Yes they do, don't they? The combined message is this: Let's all rejoice in the radiation, it's good for you and your children. If we all have it everywhere, millions of becquerels of it, that's only fair and equitable.

• 4,320 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium found from the beef from Minami Soma City, Fukushima: the cattle farm that shipped cows found with radioactive cesium far exceeding the already loose provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg is located in the "emergency evacuation-ready zone" - not even "the planned evacuation zone" or plain "evacuation zone", both of which do exist in Minami Soma City. (Various posts at this blog)
  

• The PM assistant and the current Minister in charge of the nuclear accident at Fukushima I Nuke Plant Goshi Hosono is going to announce the abolition of the "emergency evacuation-ready zone", because "the 1st step in TEPCO's "roadmap" has been mostly successfully implemented".

• Fukushima Prefecture has announced it will shut down the official shelters within Fukushima, which will force the evacuees to go back to their own homes.

• Minami-Soma City has issued a notice to all 32,000 city residents who have been living in the shelters, temporary housing outside Fukushima Prefecture that they must return to Minami-Soma, high radiation or not. (Mainichi Yamagata version, 7/12/2011)
  

• The national government will spend 100 billion yen (US$1.26 billion) to observe the health of 2 million Fukushima residents for 30 years, instead of evacuating them ASAP. About 1600 yen (US$20) per year per resident. Life is cheap. Since the national government is utterly broke, it will be ultimately paid for by the taxpayers of Japan.
  Remember, Dr. Shunichi Yamashita will be the vice president of the Fukushima Medical University who will do the observation and research.
  

• Matsudo City in Chiba Prefecture found 47,400 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium in the ashes from the city's garbage incinerator, but the city simply mixed with other ashes with low radiation to bring the final number to 5,660 becquerels/kg. Since the final mixed ashes measured LOWER than the provisional limit for burying the ashes (8,000 becquerels/kg), the city already buried the ashes and will continue to do so. (Mainichi Chiba version, 7/13/2011)
  

• On the other hand, Nagareyama City in Chiba Prefecture simply sent 30 tonnes of its radioactive ashes (27,000 becquerels/kg) from its incinerator by cargo train to Odate City in Akita Prefecture in Tohoku. Nagareyama City has a contract with a private waste disposal company in Odate City in Akita. This waste disposal company is not a nuclear waste disposal company; as far as I could tell from the description of the company, it is just a regular waste disposal company. (Sponichi, 7/12/2011)
  

By the way, Matsudo City in Chiba is simply doing what the Ministry of the Environment has decided - mix and match. If the garbage or debris is likely to exceed the 8,000 becquerels/kg limit, burn with other stuff and lower the number. If it's already in ashes, mix them up with lower radiation ashes. When the Ministry of the Environment decided this policy, the Minister was Ryu Matsumoto, who's now in hospital after resigning from his post as the Minister of Recovery and Reconstruction.

Fast and furious. Shock and awe. I think most people in Japan still cannot fathom how their elected officials and government workers with high education from distinguished schools (Tokyo University, Kyoto University, Oxford University...) could do such things to them. Better wake up really, very quickly.

People say that the Japanese are law-abiding citizens. The Japanese say that to themselves. The truth, as has been slowly revealed over the past 4 months, is that they are followers of the arbitrary and capricious orders, as long as the orders are given to them from the government sources. Never mind if those orders are very much counter to the law itself or the natural law or the common sense.

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#Radiation in Japan: 70,800 Becquerels/kg Cesium from Burning Household Waste at Kashiwa City, Chiba

Only yesterday (July 9), the officials of this city in Chiba, which has had consistently elevated levels of radiation since the Fukushima accident, announced they had detected radioactive cesium in the ashes after burning the household garbage at its waste processing plants. Over 8,000 becquerels/kg (threshold above which they cannot bury the ashes) but only slightly over 10,000 becquerels/kg.

Wrong.

One day later on July 10, the city announced it was 70,800 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium from the ashes.

Oops.

From Mainichi Shinbun (7/10/2011):

千葉県柏市は１０日、市内の清掃工場で発生した焼却灰から、１キログラム当たり７万ベクレルを超える放射性セシウムを検出したことを明らかにした。東京電力福島第１原発事故の影響とみられ、焼却灰の埋め立てを６月末から中止している。現状では、約２カ月で灰の保管スペースがなくなり、一般家庭などからの可燃ごみの受け入れが不可能になると予想される。

Kashiwa City in Chiba Prefecture disclosed on July 10 that the radioactive cesium exceeding 70,000 becquerels/kg has been detected from the burned ashes at the city's waste processing plant. It is considered to be the result of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, and the city has halted burying the ashes since the end of June. At the current rate, the city will run out of space to store the ashes, and it won't be able to accept the household trash.

　国は６月、同８０００ベクレル以上の焼却灰は埋め立てず、一時保管するよう指針を定めたが、一時保管後の処分方法は決めていない。同市は週明けにも国に対し（１）埋め立て可能な最終処分の新基準策定（２）一時保管場所の確保（３）処分費用の全額国庫負担－－を緊急要望する方針という。

The national government set the guideline in June to temporarily store the ashes that tested 8,000 becquerels/kg [of cesium] or more, but there is no guideline as to what to do with the ashes after the temporary storage. The city plans to ask the national government to: 1) come up with a new standard for the final burial; 2) secure the space for temporary storage; 3) fully pay for the disposal cost.

　同市によると、公園や一般家庭の庭などで放射線量を下げる目的で、草刈りや樹木の枝・葉の剪定（せんてい）を実施し、可燃ごみとして清掃工場へ持ち込まれたため、数値が上がった可能性があるという。

According to the city, it is possible that the number was high because the residents cut grasses and clipped leaves and branches in their backyards trying to lower the radiation level and they were sent to the plants as burnable waste.

　２カ所の清掃工場のうち、６月下旬から７月上旬まで３回の検査の最大値は南部クリーンセンターで同７万８００ベクレル、北部クリーンセンターで同９７８０ベクレル。両センターの焼却灰の最終処分場で同４万８９００ベクレルだった。

The city has two waste processing plants. The highest radiation of 70,800 becquerels/kg was measured at the Nanbu (southern) Clean Center in the three tests done since the end of June. At the Hokubu (northern) Clean Center, it was 9,780 becquerels/kg. When the ashes from the two plants were combined at the final disposal facility, it was 48,900 becquerels/kg.

　同市は１日平均２８０トンの可燃ごみを２清掃工場で受け入れ、同２１．３トンの焼却灰を最終処分場に埋め立てている。

The city accepts the average of 280 tonnes per day of burnable waste at its two waste processing plant, and buries the average of 21.3 tonnes of burned ashes at the final disposal facility.

Kashiwa City's website doesn't have any news or data on the radioactive ashes at its waste processing plants, and the last update of the Nanbu Clean Center web page was done on March 29.

If Koto-ku (in Tokyo) 's sludge plant is any example, the radioactive cesium from the burned trash may have been contaminating the downwind areas in Kashiwa City, a secondary contamination.

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#Radiation in Japan: Radioactive Cesium from Ashes from Household Garbage at Waste Disposal Plant in Edogawa-Ku, Tokyo

Not a water purification plant or at a waste water treatment plant, but a plant that burns regular, household garbage in eastern Tokyo was found with a high level of radioactive cesium in the fly ashes caught in the incinerator filter.

Edogawa-ku is located at the eastern end of Tokyo. Along with its northern neighbor Katsushika-ku, Edogawa-ku seems to have been in denial of the elevated radiation levels throughout the ward, and has only recently (June 18) started to measure the radiation at multiple locations within the ward.

The Edogawa waste disposal plant is located by the Edogawa River that separates Edogawa-ku and Chiba Prefecture. The plant can burn 600 tonnes of garbage per day with 24-hour operation, with 2 incinerators. It's in a mixed residential/commercial neighborhood, with 2 elementary schools nearby, and a nursery school right next to the plant, according to the Google Map.

From Sankei Shinbun (6/27/2011):

東京都と東京２３区清掃一部事務組合は２７日、一般家庭ゴミなどを処理する２３区内の清掃工場のうち、江戸川清掃工場で発生した焼却灰から、１キロ グラムあたり８千ベクレルを超える放射性セシウムが検出されたと発表した。同組合によると、灰はフィルターで集められ、運搬時などは密閉しているほか、施 設周辺の空間放射線量の測定結果からも、外部環境への影響はないとみている。

The Tokyo Metropolitan government and the "Clean Association Tokyo 23" (organization of waste disposal facilities in Tokyo's 23 "ku" or wards) announced on June 27 that radioactive cesium in excess of 8,000 becquerels/kilogram was detected from the fine ashes from the waste disposal plant in Edogawa-ku. The plant burns regular garbage collected from households in Edogawa-ku. According to the Association, the ashes are collected by the filter, and the filter is in a sealed container during transport. The air radiation levels have been measured around the plant, and there appears to be no effect on the environment.

　都などによると、一般廃棄物の焼却灰の放射線量を測定したのは福島県をのぞく自治体では初めてとみられる。

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan government, it was the first time that any municipal government measured the ashes from the regular waste disposal.

.............

　 　清掃工場から発生する灰には、焼却後に焼却炉の中にたまる「主灰」と、焼却時にフィルターなどに集められる「飛灰」がある。

There are two types of ashes as the result of incineration at the waste disposal plants: "main ashes" that collect inside the incinerator, and "fly ashes" that are collected by the filter.

　今回、１キログラムあたり８千ベクレルを超える放射性セシウムが検出されたのは江戸川清掃工場の飛灰で、９７４０ベクレル。同工場の主灰や、ほかの清掃工場の飛灰、主灰は８千ベクレルを下回った。

Rradioactive cesium of over 8,000 becquerels/kilogram was detected from the fly ashes produced at the Edogawa Waste Disposal Plant. Cesium from the main ashes from the plant, or the fly ashes and main ashes from the other waste disposal plants was less than 8,000 becquerels/kilogram.

　このため、江戸川清掃工場の飛灰は当面、工場内の放射能を遮れる施設で一時保管される。それ以外の灰については、最終処分場に埋め立てるという。

The fly ashes at the Edogawa plant will be stored temporarily at a facility at the plant that can shield radiation. The main ashes will be buried in the final waste processing facility.

　都では、今後も灰を継続して調査するとともに、多摩地域の市町村にも調査を要請する。

The Tokyo Metropolitan government will continue the survey of the ashes, and will ask municipalities in Tama region [western part of Tokyo] to conduct the survey.

There is no safety standard for radioactive materials in wastes OUTSIDE Fukushima Prefecture. So, the Tokyo Metropolitan government is using the standard that the national government has set for Fukushima Prefecture, and it will bury the main ashes and fly ashes as long as the radioactive materials detected are less than 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.

Now, here's the actual survey result, dated June 27. The amount of cesium detected from the fly ashes at the Edogawa plant is 9,740 becquerels/kilogram.

Other high but below 8000 numbers (page 3):

• Katsushika: 6,610 becquerels/kg

• Ota: 6,030 becquerels/kg

• Koto: 4,850 becquerels/kg

• Meguro: 4,180 becquerels/kg

Looking at the numbers for the air radiation in the surrounding areas (page 5), contrary to what Sankei reports, the areas do seem to have elevated levels of air radiation.

For the Edogawa Plant, the air radiation level inside the plant is between 0.07 to 0.16 microsievert/hour. Outside the plant, the level is much higher, between 0.21 to 0.24 microsievert/hour.

As I said above, a nursery school is right next to the plant, and there are 2 elementary schools nearby.

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down...

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