October 21, 2019

The Environment Ministry on October 19 announced that in the wake of a torrential downpour caused by Typhoon Hagibis in Fukushima, as of now, 56 bags containing waste produced from decontamination work related to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdowns flowed into rivers from flooded temporary storage sites.

According to the ministry, among temporary storage sites in municipalities near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, at a site in Tamura City, for example, at least 22 waste bags were swept away in a nearby river. Of them, 12 bags were found with nothing left in them. In Kawauchi City, 18 bags that flowed from a storage site were collected from a river.

The ministry said that no radioactive substance was detected in rivers where decontamination waste bags were discovered.