Disasters Decontaminating Japan to cost at least $13 billion

Last week Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced the government will spend at least 1 trillion yen, or $13 billion, to decontaminate areas affected by nuclear radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant.

“At least 1 trillion yen will be budgeted as we take on the responsibility for decontamination,” the prime minster said in an interview.

“It is a prerequisite for people to return to their homelands.”

Following the 11 March earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 80,000 residents living within a 12.5 mile radius of the plant were forced to evacuate as plumes of radioactive steam were released.

To make the area safe for residents to return, the government must remove and properly dispose of 29 million cubic meters of contaminated soil spread across 930 square miles, an area roughly the size of Luxembourg.

So far the government has raised 220 billion yen and plans to budget an additional 250 billion yen for cleanup efforts with more expected to be included in next fiscal year’s budget.

The announcement comes following statements by a visiting team of UN nuclear experts who said Japan should be less conservative in its cleanup efforts.

“We are not saying the government’s approach is over-conservative, what we want is for the government to avoid becoming over-conservative in the future,” explained Tero Tapio Varjoranta, the team’s deputy leader.

According to the International Atomic Agency (IAEA) team, removing the topsoil to decontaminate areas, as the Japanese government is considering, would be impractical. Storing roughly 29 million cubic meters of radioactive soil would likely prove to be a nightmare of a task.

“Where applicable, there are methods that do not require storage. There are about sixty remediation technologies available. We are taking the advice from our experiences in Chernobyl, where a lot of mistakes were made,” Varjoranta said.

Other methods for decontamination include mixing the removed topsoil with clean material for use in the construction of roads and reinforcement of banks or storing the contaminated soil in various layers.

The IAEA team concluded its mission last week and will present its final report to the Japanese government next month.