Japan's approach for recycling soil in Fukushima Prefecture that was removed amid radiation cleanup efforts following the 2011 nuclear disaster is consistent with international safety standards, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday.
The final report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on the issue, handed to Environment Minister Shintaro Ito in Tokyo the same day, is expected to help the Japanese government step up efforts to reuse part of the massive amount of soil, currently stored at an interim facility, for public work projects nationwide.
Around 14 million cubic meters of radioactive soil and other waste generated from decontamination activities are placed in the interim facility built near the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Soil and waste with higher radiation levels will not be recycled and are scheduled to be disposed of outside the northeastern prefecture by March 2045, but the final destination is yet to be determined.
Following a 16-month safety review, which included inspections of the interim storage site and soil recycle trials in the prefecture, the IAEA said its team of experts concluded that the Japanese Environment Ministry's approach to date for the recycling and the final disposal of removed soil and waste are "consistent with the IAEA safety standards."
Ito told IAEA officials who handed the report to him that the conclusion is "encouraging."
"The government will continue its efforts, fully considering the report's findings, to promote more effective management, recycling and final disposal of the removed soil in the future," he said.
The recycling plan is aimed at reducing the amount of soil and waste that eventually needs to be disposed of.
Japan plans to recycle roughly 75 percent of the removed soil that contains low concentrations of radioactivity -- or 8,000 becquerels per kilogram -- using it within road embankments, railways, agricultural land and land reclamation, among others.
The IAEA also said in its report that Japan's radiation exposure limit can be "sufficiently achieved" by using the recycled soil of 8,000 becquerels per kilogram or less.
The agency, meanwhile, called for addressing the current situation in which the Environment Ministry is in charge of both regulations and the operation of projects.
It also pointed to the "many technical and social challenges" facing Japan if it is to implement the recycling of removed soil and secure final disposal outside Fukushima Prefecture by 2045, referring to potential safety concerns among locals.
Based on the IAEA report, the Japanese ministry plans to compile standards for the soil recycling as a ministerial ordinance within the current fiscal year through March 2025.
Nuclear reactors at the seaside power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. suffered severe meltdowns following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, spewing massive amounts of radioactive materials into the air, resulting in decontamination of land in the vicinity.
