Arab News Japan

TOKYO: A group of citizens submitted a questionnaire to the Japanese government on Wednesday asking for details of the plan to recycle contaminated soil from areas near the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant in Tokyo and surrounding areas.

The project involves mixing healthy soil with irradiated soil. Fifty citizens of Tokyo were chosen to attend a trial of this experiment, which took place earlier in December in Saitama Prefecture north of Tokyo on land belonging to the Ministry of the Environment and in Shinjuku Gyoen, one of Tokyo’s most beautiful gardens.

This came after unsuccessful attempts to carry out the trial in Fukushima after residents’ opposition. The government chose other areas, also adding Ibaraki Prefecture, which lies to the south of Fukushima. 

The group of concerned citizens submitted 14 questions asking how much radioactivity and what type of radioactive contaminants would be contained in the contaminated soil, and whether there was a risk of it being disseminated in the environment or would endanger animals. 

Representatives from the Ministry of the Environment certified that the level of cesium contained in the soil did not exceed 8,000 becquerels per kilogram, which corresponds to the standard set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. 

The citizens of Saitama Prefecture made representations to the government strongly opposing this project.

Lawmaker FUKUSHIMA Mizuho of the Social Democratic Party expressed concern that the project to bury and recycle contaminated soil will take place in a garden where many children and foreigners come to have fun.

Other citizens express their concerns about risks to people’shealth and cast doubt on the government’s assurances of safety.