Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Will Accept and Burn Disaster Debris from Tohoku, Renews Efforts to Invite Olympic Games to Tokyo

If I thought Yokohama City was so slow in responding to citizens' concern on radiation contamination, I certainly didn't know what the Tokyo Metropolitan government could do.

It doesn't even tell the citizens.

First, the Tokyo government didn't tell anyone that they started dumping the radioactive ashes in the landfill in the Tokyo Bay in May. And now, without bothering asking the citizens, again, it will start bringing the disaster debris from Tohoku that are likely to be radioactive and burn in Tokyo.

NHK News (9/29/2011):

東京都は、東日本大震災で出た岩手県内のがれきを都内に運び込んで焼却処理することを決め、30日、岩手県との間で協定を結ぶことになりました。

The Tokyo Metropolitan government has decided to bring in the disaster debris from Iwate prefecture to Tokyo and burn them, and will sign an agreement with the Iwate prefectural government on September 30.

東日本大震災の被災地では、建物などが津波によって壊されたり、流されたりして出た大量のがれきの処理が問題になっていて、被災地だけでは処理しきれない状況になっています。国が被災地以外の自治体にがれきの処理を求めた結果、東京都は、被災地のうち、岩手県で処理しきれずに残っているがれきを、平成26年3月までの2年半にわたって受け入れることを決め、30日、岩手県との間で協定を結ぶことになりました。

In the disaster-affected areas in Tohoku, the amount of debris from tsunami is simply too huge for the affected municipalities to process by themselves. The national government has requested the prefectures and municipalities not affected by the disaster to take the debris and process. Responding to the request, the Tokyo Metropolitan government has decided to accept the debris from Iwate Prefecture for 2 and a half years till March 2014, and will sign an agreement with the Iwate prefectural government on September 30.

都では、今後、がれきを焼却処理などする業者を公募で決めたうえで、来月から岩手県宮古市のがれきをコンテナに入れて鉄道で都内に運ぶことにしています。がれきを運び出したり、焼却したりする際には放射性物質の濃度が測定され、処理されたものは、最終的に江東区青海の先にある処分場に埋め立てられる計画です。

The Tokyo Metropolitan government will conduct public bidding to decide which contractors will get to process (incinerate) the disaster debris before starting to accept debris from Miyako City in Iwate Prefecture starting next month. The debris will arrive in Tokyo in containers by rail. Radioactive materials will be measured when the debris are shipped, and when they are burned. After incineration, the ashes will be buried in the landfill beyond Aomi in Koto-ku.

東京都によりますと、事前に宮古市にあるがれきや焼却したあとの灰について、放射性物質の濃度を測ったところ、埋め立てが可能となる国の目安をいずれも下回っていたということです。被災地のがれきを東北以外の地域が受け入れるのは東京都が初めてで、都は最終的に東北の被災地からおよそ50万トンのがれきを受け入れる予定だということです。東京都環境局は「被災地の復旧や復興の支援につなげていきたい」と話しています。

According to the government, the density of radioactive materials measured on the debris and in the ashes from burning the debris in Miyako City was lower than the national standard to allow burying. Outside Tohoku, Tokyo will be the first to accept the disaster debris from Tohoku. The Tokyo government plans to accept the total of about 500,000 tonnes of debris. The Metropolitan bureau of environment says "We want to contribute to the recovery and rebuilding of the disaster-affected areas".

The landfill beyond Aomi, Koto-ku is the same one in the Tokyo Bay that the Tokyo Metropolitan government has been dumping the radioactive ashes since May. (See my 9/13/2011 post.)

As to the "safe" level of burying the radioactive ashes and debris, that's totally meaningless now that the Ministry of Environment has allowed the burial of just about anything, even the ashes that measures over 100,000 becquerels/kg of cesium, as long as there are measures in place at the processing facilities that will prevent the leakage. Uh huh.

Apparently, when the Tokyo Metropolitan government answered questions from the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on September 28, it was already a done deal. Assemblyman Hirofumi Yanagase, who has been active in alerting the citizens about dangerous radiation levels at sludge plants and waste incinerators in his district in Tokyo, fumes (link is in Japanese):

"The government said during the question and answer session in the Assembly on September 28 that the details were still being worked out. But then less than half a day later they announced a concrete plan of accepting 1,000 tonnes of debris from Iwate Prefecture by the middle of November."

Yanagase also wonders if his colleagues in the Assembly are even aware of radiation and radiation contamination in Tokyo at all. Probably not, Mr. Yanagase, from what I read and hear.

NHK also reports that the Tokyo will launch the campaign to invite the 2020 Summer Olympics to Tokyo but with the reduced budget, after the lavish and unsuccessful campaign by Governor Ishihara the last time (for 2016) was heavily criticized. Now Isihara says he will only use 7 billion yen (US$91.5 million) of taxpayers' money instead of 14 billion yen he spent the last time.

Oh and the national government now wants Tokyo and 7 other Prefectures in Kanto and Tohoku (Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba) to build intermediate storage facilities of highly contaminated soil in their own prefectures, according to Yomiuri Shinbun (9/28/2011). Half of Tohoku and most of Kanto are to have a nuclear waste dump, and Tokyo wants to invite Olympics.

Tokyo looks set to become the most radioactive capital in the world. I bet the governor of Tokyo likes that: "Ichiban (Number One)!" I doubt that it will win the Olympics bid, ever again.

13 comments:

Canary strikes said...

When majors and other pray animals of low vision have been ruling over the masses for too long, they loose credibility not for their words by their actions, like Ishihara-s Olympics choice and nuke dump areas in Tokyo.

This is warning sign of the decadence of a society that has to be renewed in all levels in order to survive.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha! 'Heart and Brains' Ishihara. Tokyo, you get what you vote for, enjoy! What a jerk.

Anonymous said...

Arevamirpal You are thanks, a good and responsible human being

Anonymous said...

I think you meant "invite" in the headline... :)

Otherwise...keep up the good work.

Nuclear power will be replaced by solar...change is on the rise!

Anonymous said...

You wrote;"It doesn't even tell the citizens"
and used a NHK Article,
something is not right, at least imho.!

Atomfritz said...

I always believed that they'd incinerate the waste in waste power plants.
There are many of such power plants in Germany using waste as energy source. These have quite effective multi-stage filtering, so their emissions are usually below those of coal plants.

But I had to learn that in Japan they apparently burn waste in the open, polluting the air and the land with a broad cocktail of poisons, not to speak of this immense and irresponsible wasting of energy.
In consequence, Japan's breastfeed milk contains more dioxines than in any other country of the world if I am informed correctly.

Burning waste in the open is considered a severe environmental crime in Germany.
So I am amazed that in Tokyo they even hire "contractors" for doing things that are seriously punishable in Germany.

So, in my viewpoint almost the whole japanese political class seem to be highly corrupt organized criminals who deserve to be jailed.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@anon at 5:24AM, when NHK reported it was already a done deal. Tokyo residents were kept in the dark again, even the Assembly was kept in the dark. Most Tokyo residents didn't even know that their government had been dumping radioactive ashes in the Tokyo Bay landfill.

@Atomfritz, they do have filters (or so they claim) but those are not for radioactive materials. They are guessing (or hoping) that the filters work for radioactive materials. Many waste incinerators in Tokyo have very high smoke stacks, potentially spreading whatever coming out of the stacks far and wide.

Anonymous said...

This is pretty alarming. Why not keep all the debris close to the source? Just make huge mountains and leave it to the only thing that is going to decontaminate this mess: time and nature. Of course, the entire area must be off limits forever, but that is better than spreading it out over where I live (Tokyo) and the rest of the Japan. The political trading of favors in the back rooms must be reaching even new highs to accommodate this whopper.

Yosaku said...

The Toshima incinerator in Tokyo burns about 300 tons of waste per day, which means that by mid-November (when Tokyo expects to have received 1000 tons of Iwate waste), the Toshima incinerator alone will have burned somewhere around 13,500 tons of waste. Now, if we multiply that by the 21 incinerators currently operating in Tokyo, we get 283,500 tons give or take, making the 1,000 tons of waste from Iwate statistically insignificant from a volume perspective over that period of time. (If any native Japanese speakers can get better numbers, that would be great!)

Moreover, a quick glance at the most recent radiation maps that EX-SKF has so kindly provided show that Iwate was not seriously affected by the radiation from Fukushima so this waste should be relatively clean.

As such, I think this is currently a non-story.

teacupblues said...

the whole idea is to spread radioactive material all over japan so that there are no cancer hot spots to point to when the cancer lawsuits start. If the cancer rates are more or less the same all over then proving that Tepco is at fault will be impossible. Difficult to imagine I know but I believe this is the reason to spread it far and wide.

Anonymous said...

Gee thanks Japan for continuing to share the radioactive fallout with the rest of the Northern Hemisphere with the trash burning.

Anonymous said...

Holding the Olympics at Tokyo in 2020 could be a wonderful opportunity to combine the Special Olympics with regular events, because by then the uncovered Daiichi site will produce so many autistic children and retards and people with disabilities that it will seem normal for sports to be hotly contested by damaged humans. It will be Japan that takes the medals because they are deeply invested now in creating the new class of retarded athletes who will thrill the retarded spectators. It will be heart warming to see the drooling nine year olds who can instead of swooshes on their uniforms, can have little nuclear symbols showing their team allegiance to the electron and its devastating electron voltage ripping apart the old standby human DNA to form the new champion homuculus children of the atomic era. Just going to contaminated Tokyo in that time, will be dangerous and add to the zestful surroundings of living in constant background radiation of over ten times and sometimes hundreds of times previous norms. The little retarded Japanese will be the heroes of the Olympics, and they deserve to hole the Games right where it all began, close to Fuk-you-shima the masterpiece of Japanese technocracy. Congratulations and good luck spores fans. Are we paying attention to reality yet?

Noglow Thanks said...

LMAO, Olympic games to be held in Tok-e-glow

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