Event: Tokyo

The government decided Tuesday to begin reusing in regional cities soil generated from decontamination work following the 2011 meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings’ Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.At a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo, the government decided to begin the soil reuse program at an early date for flowerbeds at buildings in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, and the city of Saitama, where central government branch offices are located.It will be the first time for the soil from decontamination work to be used outside Tokyo, except for its use in demonstration projects in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the Tepco plant, which experienced a triple meltdown following the massive earthquake and tsunami that mainly struck northeastern Japan in March 2011.Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at the meeting that reusing soil from decontamination work will be key to achieving the government’s goal of completing the final disposal of the soil outside Fukushima by March 2045.Kihara urged attendees to expand the reuse of the soil to regional branch offices in other cities and strengthen public communication about its safety.Currently, about 14 million cubic meters of the soil are stored at interim facilities in the Fukushima towns of Okuma and Futaba, which host the Tepco plant.The government plans to reuse roughly three-quarters of the soil, which has relatively low radiation levels, in public works projects.In order to promote public understanding of the initiative, the government has been reusing the soil at the prime minister’s office and 12 central government office buildings in Tokyo since last year.

The government has already reused the soil at 12 sites in Tokyo since July last year, including the prime minister’s office and other buildings in the Kasumigaseki district.Excluding demonstration projects in Fukushima prefecture, the expansion to the cities of Sendai and Saitama will mark the first reuse of the soil outside Tokyo.The government aims to further expand the soil’s reuse to other branch offices in Japan to reduce the total amount of soil that eventually needs to be dealt with.As of the end of July, about 14.46 million cubic metres (510 million cubic feet) of removed soil and other waste had been placed at an interim storage facility near the nuclear complex.The damaged Unit 1 reactor (back) and exhaust stack shared by the Unit 1 and 2 reactors are seen at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on February 20, 2025. Photo: APThe Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 2011, suffered fuel meltdowns at three of its nuclear reactors, releasing radiation into the atmosphere.