Radiation Cleanup Confounds Japan WSJ, Fuels Mental Health Fears AFG

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Radiation Cleanup Confounds Japan

BY YUMIKO ONO

KORIYAMA, Japan—Nearly eight months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident scattered radioactive material over surrounding communities, Japan still is struggling to figure out how to clean up the mess, exacerbating fears about health risks and fanning mistrust of the government.

Government guidelines provide scant detail about the $14-billion-plus effort. A new cleanup law doesn't take effect until January. Cities across Fukushima prefecture are scraping contaminated topsoil off school grounds and parks, but Tokyo hasn't yet decided where to store the tainted material. Frustrated residents of some towns have planted sunflowers in a fruitless effort to suck radioactive cesium out of ...

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via online.wsj.com

This type of shallow-pit burial has not been used in the U.S. since the 1960s," she says. "This is definitely not a good idea.