Cc Version;fukushima Three Years On; a Synopsis of Events from 311 - Pt3 of 6

We visited a debris storage site in Ishinomaki City Miyagi prefecture Due to clean up delays the piles had grown to more than 20 meters According the environment ministry the disaster left behind 4.64 million tons of debris in Ishinomaki Without outside help it would take more than 80 years for the city to clean it all up Buried in the piles were a wide variety of everyday items The bits and pieces are sad reminders of destroyed lives This pipe lets out the heat Carbon monoxide mercury sulphide and methane are being produced inside The fermenting debris produces gas and accumulates heat If excess heat remains trapped inside the debris can burst into flame 25 fires have broken out at debris storage sites in Miyagi prefecture Massive outbreaks of flies were reported in summer Why has the clean up of the debris made no progress more than a year after the disaster We decided to find out The disaster produced 20 million tons of debris The largest volume ever is hampering efforts to rebuild affected areas Factories remain in shambles and there seems to be no end to the human exodus Five years or ten years I probably won't be around until it's all cleared up I'm worried the whole town will disappear No radioactive debris Efforts are under way to dispose of the debris outside areas hit by the disasters Such plans are met with strong protests by residents worried about radioactivity You say it's safe but we're not convinced We won't accept it What's more debris that's washed out to sea is now drifting on the Pacific Ocean Some has reach US and Canadian shores and begun causing serious problems Even a 20 meter long floating dock made it to the other side of the Pacific This would be some of the debris We're finding these on the outside coast everywhere now which we never found before We don't know how we're going to clean it up Last years tsunami left more than 18 million tons of debris in it's wake Disposing of the remains is proving to be a major and costly problem The central government hopes municipalities will help with the clean up but few have stepped forward The city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture has the largest amount of debris among all the disaster regions About five million tons Those piles pose a problem The temperature inside this pile is 80 degress Celsius Last August one of the piles caught on fire The government has been struggling to transfer debris to temporary storage sites Only half of the debris in Ishinomaki has so far been tackled there's too much and no place to store it Temperatures will rise in summer and flies can transmit infection I don't think we can proceed with reconstruction or even dream of the future as long as debris remains The government aims to dispose of all the debris by March 2014 Part of it's disposal plan would see some municipalities around the country accept 2,500,000 tons So far six local governments have agreed but they are only willing to accept 43 percent of the target amount Governments are reluctant to accept debris over concerns of radioactive contamination Assembly members visited from Aichi prefecture to see a disposal facility They are hoping to reassure sceptical residents in Aichi That's where hazardous substances are broken up into small particles and are sucked up and what comes out is steam People in Japan are critical of the slow disposal pace They say the government is not releasing information on the safety of the debris quickly enough The government in October set radioactive safety limits at between 240 and 480 becquerels per kilogram after consulting international organizations Officials in Aichi are considering whether to accept the debris The safety standards are not trusted by the people in Japan Aichi prefecture will set a stricter standard than the national one The residents of Aichi are not as accepting about taking debris as prefecture authorities and local assembly members A Toyota factory in Tahara city is one of the candidate sites that government says will accept debris Masanobu Nagata heads a citizens group that is campaigning against accepting debris He worked as a radiation technologist for 25 years before becoming a farmer Nature still exists here and I feel the potatoes we grow taste better Joined by like minded citizens Nagata continues to study radioactive contaminants from the debris We have to protect our children We shouldn't let our town accept the debris without having further confirmation The safety limits sharply deviate from waste disposal standards set in the past They will allow contaminated material to be moved around the nation and destroy Japan's beautiful nature One year after the March 11 disaster, fears of radioactive contamination are keeping local governments from agreeing to accept debris for disposal This has left the government in a position where it may not be able to live up to it's pledge of completing the clean up by 2014 NHK has learned that some contractors have failed to pay a special allowance to workers who remove radioactive fallout from the Fukushima nuclear accident Japanese government has hired major construction companies carry out the decontamination The actual work is performed by subcontractors The government pays a risk allowance of 110 dollars per day in addition to a daily wage to people who work where there is high radiation Two subcontractors in Fukushima city did not pay the allowance Workers were promised 110 dollars per day with free accommodation and meals when they started their jobs in mid 2012 They say their employers did not mention the special allowance Between November and December subcontractors gave workers a new document about working conditions The allowance was paid on paper but the daily wage was cut to 67 dollars with accommodations and meals deducted from payment It seems as long as this system of cheating workers continues the less people will want to do this job The subcontractors asked workers to sign the document as if it were the original but then employers admitted it was a fake The workers say their employers tried to hide the nonpayment of risk allowance Japans nuclear regulators discussed how to safeguard nuclear power plants against accidents similar to Fukushima Daiichi They drafted new safety standards for nuclear facilities They have proposed new filtered vents for the power plants The vents would reduce pressure in containment vessel and filter contaminated steam Workers struggled to control the pressure in Fukushima reactors after the 2011 tsunami Watchdog officials consider stand alone facilities to cool damaged reactors and inject water from safe distance Proposals will face a public review Japanese government is investigating workers involved in the nuclear clean up in Fukushima Some are endangering citizens by dumping radioactive material Contractors have been working on the clean up since July They have to seal and store radioactive material But officials have been looking at reports that some dumped soil and vegetation in rivers and didn't collect the water they used Officials question workers to find out if others are breaking the rules Violators face 5 years in jail or fines of 100,000 dollars Environment ministry is looking for advice on how to store dirt and contaminated debris contaminated by 2011 accident Workers have been removing topsoil to decontaminate the area The government plans to construct intermediate storage facilities in three towns near Fukushima Daiichi plant The debris will be kept there until final disposal sites are built Some residents are concerned about high levels of radiation Environment Ministry is assembling panels of experts to confirm the safety of the plan Geologists will check the ground under the site to make sure it's stable They will also give advice on the structures and facilities as well as safety measures Another panel of experts will discuss how to conserve the environment around the sites One year on and Mrs. Ahashi is taking her children to the doctor They have been sick frequently over the last 12 months Nosebleeds diarrhea sore throats Symptoms that disappeared when they went away but returned when they came back to Fukushima The eldest one went away during the summer When she came back in November she had mouth blisters From mid December when she went away again the blisters went away On a sheet she lists the symptoms Before the tsunami she says the kids were all in very good health Now they're picking up every little bug going around