Abstract
About 13.35 million tons of radiocesium-contaminated soil have been generated in the decontamination work following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The Ministry of Environment (MOE) has declared that final disposal of the removed soil must be completed by 2045, and disposal will be outside Fukushima Prefecture. Moreover, the MOE will attempt to reuse the removed low-radiation soil as a soil material, with the aim of reducing the overall amount to be finally disposed of outside Fukushima Prefecture. Deciding upon the location of the final disposal site and consensus for this reuse of removed soil with stakeholders is, however, proving to be difficult.
In this paper, we introduce web survey results for recognition of the final disposal site and reuse of the removed soil by the MOE, along with recent efforts by our own coalition and the MOE to improve the level of awareness and acceptance by citizens. We also discuss potential challenges and future issues regarding how to undertake “consensus with stakeholders,” which is considered to be an extremely important factor for conducting final disposal and the reuse of removed soil from Fukushima.
