Ministry of the Environment / Draft demonstration plan for recycling removed soil, exploring its use for road embankment
Structural image when using the removed soil for embankment of roads (from the Ministry of the Environment website)
The Ministry of the Environment has put together a draft plan for a demonstration project for recycling the removed soil in order to reduce the final disposal amount of waste generated in the decontamination project for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. At intermediate storage facilities (Okuma and Futaba towns) in Fukushima prefecture, we are looking for ways to use recycled materials based on removed soil for road embankment in anticipation of expanding their use. Through demonstrations, we will sort out issues and countermeasures during on-site construction. The design, construction method and procedure will be examined until October, and construction will be carried out from the same month to January 2023. From January of the same year, various tests and monitoring will be conducted. Demonstration will be conducted to use recycled materials for parking lot maintenance even outside the prefecture.
On the 3rd, the first meeting of the "Working Group on Recycling Measures for Removed Soil in Interim Storage Facility" (WG, Chairman, Takeshi Katsumi, Professor, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University) was held in Tokyo and presented the plan. The WG will organize and evaluate the knowledge gained in the demonstration project, and consider measures to recycle the removed soil and use it safely. We plan to summarize the results in FY2011. We will also create a practical guide on recycling.
According to the plan, recycled materials will be used for embankment of roads in the interim storage facility. The roads covered by general road standards are assumed to have a structure with sidewalks with a daily traffic volume of 4,000 to 20,000 vehicles (3 types, 2nd grade). Evaluation is performed after actual construction. Reflect the results of the business in the guide.
A demonstration project will be conducted outside Fukushima prefecture with the aim of realizing final disposal outside Fukushima prefecture. Recycled materials will be used for the roadbed of parking lots, and demonstrations will be made for each landfill pattern, such as differences in pavement materials and roadbed materials. Also investigate the cases used when creating flower beds and plazas. Confirm the safety by measuring the air dose rate at the landfill site and its surroundings, the radioactivity concentration in the seepage water, etc. during construction and operation. Construction will be carried out this year, and monitoring will begin after completion.
