According to the Fukushima Prefecture and the Environment Ministry, there are more than nine million bags of nuclear material piling up in Japan.
The ministry revealed this week that the number of bags of waste from decontamination efforts around the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant had reached just under 9.16 million as of the end of September
Over 9 million bags of #nuclear cleanup waste piled up across #Fukushima Pref. https://t.co/bpHAcVN2bd https://t.co/gft1Ewx7Ad
— The Mainichi (@themainichi) December 10, 2015
The Mainichi reports: The 1-cubic-meter bags are found at some 114,700 interim storage or decontamination sites across the prefecture. In the town of Tomioka — covered by a nuclear disaster evacuation order — mounds of bags have grown so tall that they obscure the power shovels used to move and stack the waste, the black balls covering every sliver of landscape.
The bags of waste are typically stacked four layer high, with a fifth layer of uncontaminated soil laid on top to block radiation. Waterproof sheets are also used to stop rainwater from getting into the bags and becoming contaminated.
Negotiations with the towns of Okuma and Futaba — both under evacuation orders — to establish mid-term waste storage facilities there have been hard-going, and the start of construction is nowhere in sight.
Niamh Harris