#Radioactive Landfill: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Has Been Doing It Since May

Yokohama City residents had just enough time to get organized very quickly and were able to halt (for now) the start of dumping of radioactive sludge ashes into the ocean in their final processing facility at the end of Minami Honmoku Pier on Tokyo Bay.

Tokyo residents either did not have a chance to do so because they didn't know, or they didn't care.

It turns out that Tokyo Metropolitan government has been dumping sludge from its water purification plants and burned ashes from the sewer sludge from the sludge plants in its landfill in Tokyo Bay at least since late May. The huge landfill is right near the Haneda Airport. (Photo from the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Environment)

On June 3, Tokyo Metropolitan government announced the result of air radiation survey done on the landfill locations where the radioactive sludge and ashes were being dumped, and that's how some people (mostly bloggers as far as I've found) noticed it and wrote about it.

I remember reading a twitter or two about Tokyo already dumping radioactive ashes and sludge, but there was no substantiating info with those tweets and I didn't follow up. On checking the Tokyo government's site just now, I haven't found any announcement that they would start dumping the ashes and sludge into the landfill in Tokyo Bay.

Instead, on the Tokyo government's site, there is the announcement of June 3 about radiation levels measured at the locations plotted on the map below:

(Translation of the table titles and cells below is mine, not Tokyo government's.)

Sewer sludge ashes buried in Area (A), radiation measurements at 8 locations (microsievert/hr)

		Ａ１	Ａ２	Ａ３	Ａ４	Ａ５	Ａ６	Ａ７	Ａ８
Date of Measurement 5/25/2011	at 0.01 meter	0.27	0.34	0.33	0.23	0.24	0.50	0.29	0.22
	at 0.5 meter	0.25	0.33	0.29	0.20	0.24	0.55	0.28	0.24
	at 1.0 meter	0.25	0.33	0.29	0.19	0.24	0.55	0.28	0.24
Date of Measurement 6/1/2011	at 0.01 meter	0.26	0.32	0.32	0.24	0.23	0.55	0.29	0.23
	at 0.5 meter	0.26	0.32	0.32	0.21	0.24	0.55	0.29	0.23
	at 1.0 meter	0.24	0.33	0.29	0.20	0.24	0.55	0.29	0.24

Sluge from water purification plants buried in Area (B), radiation measurement at 7 locations (microsievert/hr)

		Ｂ１	Ｂ２	Ｂ３	Ｂ４	Ｂ５	Ｂ６	Ｂ７
Date of Measurement 5/25/2011	at 0.01 meter	0.19	0.36	0.21	0.25	0.33	0.43	0.36
	at 0.5 meter	0.21	0.70	0.19	0.45	0.34	0.45	0.36
	at 1.0 meter	0.21	0.80	0.18	0.50	0.37	0.46	0.36
Date of Measurement 6/1/2011	at 0.01 meter	0.19	0.35	0.18	0.24	0.33	0.41	0.37
	at 0.5 meter	0.20	0.65	0.18	0.46	0.40	0.43	0.39
	at 1.0 meter	0.21	0.65	0.18	0.55	0.47	0.43	0.40

The Bureau of Environment announcement says the facility accepts "sewer sludge ashes and sludge from water purification plants are accepted if they are mixed with cement or if they are wetted". (下水汚泥焼却灰、上水スラッジは、セメント混練りや湿潤化したものを受け入れている) The Bureau also says that they pile dirt on top of the fill for "appropriate management" of the sludge and ashes buried there.

The radiation levels looks pretty high to me for all the supposed precautions. What's peculiar is that the sludge from water purification plants generally tested higher than the sewer sludge ashes, and that there is no discernible difference between the measurement close to the surface and the measurement at 1 meter.

Why are these politicians and city bureaucrats so eager to burn and bury radioactive materials? Because they don't know? Because they think it's safe, as the national government says? Because they are in denial and think nothing has changed since March 11? If the answer is the latter two, why don't they then openly announce it and let the residents know?

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Yokohama's Solution of Ever-Increasing Radioactive Ashes from Sewer Sludge: Dump In the Ocean as Landfill

It's not that I'm picking on Yokohama City but I am just so amazed, more than anything else.

As I said before, my image of Yokohama City has been cosmopolitan, international, modern (i.e. what tourists think). In the nuclear crisis like Japan has had since March 11, I would have assumed the city like this would act in a conservative, responsible way that would never harm any of the residents or the visitors.

In addition to its poor judgment in using radioactive beef for lunches at kindergartens and elementary schools and not admitting it for a long time, and just recently spending a large amount of money to create a PR pamphlet to tell Yokohama residents that radiation is nothing to worry about, the city is going to dump radioactive ashes from the sewer sludge into the ocean as landfill material, starting mid September.

Newspapers reported on September 10 that Yokohama City would start burying the ashes from sewer sludge in its final processing facility in Naka-ku (special ward). According to the city, the ashes measure less than the national safety standard of 8,000 becquerels/kg and therefore they can be disposed in a normal manner. The ashes have so far tested the maximum 6,468 becquerels/kg.

What the report didn't show the readers is this: Photograph of this final processing facility, "Minami Honmoku Waste Final Processing Facility" (from Yokohama City website), which turns out to be a landfill site on the Tokyo Bay:

Below the photograph, the text explains how the ashes are to be brought in:

"Ashes from the incineration plants are to be moistened with enough water, and fly ashes are to be mixed with cement and solidified. They are then to be loaded on a truck and go straight to the processing facility."

A city's assemblywoman's site has a picture of how the disposal is done: go straight into the ocean.

The protection? The walls that separates the wider bay and the area designated for landfill (see the picture above).

She also says there is a fishing park nearby where the city residents come to enjoy recreational fishing. Also, Minami Honmoku Pier, where this final processing facility is located, is a major container port, with cargo handling volume in 2009 well over 12 million tonnes. There are still many fishermen who do commercial fishing in Tokyo Bay.

Yokohama City's plan is to fill this area with radioactive ashes and other industrial wastes, and build a site for offices and businesses. The plan basically says what ex-Chief Cabinet Secretary and soon-to-be Minister of Economy has said all along, that it is safe enough and there is no immediate effect on health.

The plan freely admits that some minute amount of radioactive materials (they only talk about cesium, of course) will leak into the environment - in this case the ocean, marine life, beach sand, and fishing nets of the fishermen. But in conclusion, it declares that the safety of dumping radioactive materials in the landfill is proven "scientifically" because the estimated amount of radiation leaked into the environment is within the level deemed safe by the experts with whom the City consulted.

Well, this is the city whose mayor has said any food item is considered safe if it is sold in the marketplace. At least she asked the experts this time.

But I don't think even the Ministry of the Environment was thinking of the radioactive ashes being dumped into the ocean when they came up with the 8,000 becquerels/kg cesium "safety" limit.

And this mayor of Yokohama City, what did she say she wants to accomplish? Attract more foreign tourists with lively art scene.

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