TOTTORI, Japan, Aug 28, 2005 -- Kyodo

 

A governmental nuclear research and development institute began work Monday to ship soil contaminated with uranium from Yurihama, Tottori Prefecture, to the United States for disposal.

The 19 days of work to transport the contaminated soil paves the way for a solution to a long-standing legal row between the local community and the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, which erupted after the existence of the soil came to light in 1988.

However, since the soil to be shipped constitutes only 10 percent of the total amount of contaminated soil, the issue is unlikely to be resolved quickly.

Of the 3,000 cubic meters of contaminated soil in the town's Katamo district, the institute will dispose of 290 cubic meters with a relatively high surface radiation level.

According to the institute's plan, the soil will be packed in a metal container and transported to Kobe port by truck. After clearing customs, it will be shipped to the United States on a container vessel in early October.

In the United States, a company which the institute has contracted will dispose of the soil at a cost of about 660 million yen, and use the extracted uranium for power generation there, institute officials said.

The soil originated from test drilling for uranium by the institute's predecessor, the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp., around Ningyo Pass on the border of Tottori and Okayama prefectures in the 1950s and 1960s.

It was revealed in August 1988 that the soil had been left behind in the Katamo district, triggering an outcry from the local community.

In November 2000, the Katamo community association filed a lawsuit against the institute with the Tottori District Court and obtained an order to clear away all of the soil.

The court order for removal was upheld by a higher court and finalized by the Supreme Court in October last year after a protracted legal battle.

The institute has been paying 750,000 yen per day to the local community, as ordered by the Tottori District Court, for failing to remove the soil before the court-appointed deadline of March 10 this year.

The institute unveiled a plan in February to temporarily keep the soil at its waste-storage site at another location in Yurihama, but the Tottori prefectural government blocked the move under its ordinance governing prefecture-designated natural parks.

The institute immediately filed a suit with the district court seeking a court order to nullify the prefectural government's ban.

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