Arab News Japan

TOKYO: A group of Japanese from Shin-Tokorozawa just north of Tokyo are protesting against the reuse of contaminated soil by the National Environmental and Experimental Research Institute under the Ministry of the Environment.

The Ministry of the Environment plans to recycle waste with low radioactive emissions in different places in Japan. But many citizens in these areas dispute the safety of the project and fear that this experiment will lead to others in the future.

Twelve years to the day – March 11 – after the massive earthquake and deadly tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, several dozen citizens testified to their concerns about the reuse of irradiated soil close to inhabited areas. The protesters displayed banners near Tokorozawa and Shin-Tokorozawa stations.

The site that will be used to dispose of radioactive waste is near a university and in an area where nature is abundant and many hikers pass.

After a demonstration of how the project would work, it was decided to suspend the project until the end of March, as 85 percent of the citizens were against it. However, it has not been abandoned completely by the local government or the Ministry of the Environment, who wish to explain to the local people the need for the project – but without being obliged to take into account their concerns.