Tokyo begins disaster rubble disposal

Authorities in Tokyo have begun disposing of a massive amount of rubble from the March earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan.

Freight trains brought the rubble from Iwate Prefecture to a facility in Tokyo, where it was transferred to containers and taken to a nearby waste processing plant. Workers there then sorted it and crushed it.

Officials conducting random radiation checks on the rubble said a sample had a reading below the maximum allowable level set by Tokyo at 0.01 microsieverts per hour.

The rubble will be disposed of on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay after some of it is burned.

The Iwate debris is the first part of half a million tons the Tokyo Metropolitan government has agreed to accept from Iwate and 2 other prefectures by March of 2014.

Tokyo is the first prefecture outside the disaster areas to offer to help dispose of the debris.

Thursday, November 03, 2011 17:13 +0900 (JST)