The
Japanese government has made its first official estimate of the extent of the
cleanup operation the country faces six months after the start of the ongoing
crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
In
a report released Sept. 27, the environment ministry stated that the country
will have to remove and find a way to dispose of 29 million cubic meters of
contaminated soil.
The
government, which has been widely denounced for withholding information in
order to downplay the extent of the disaster, has acknowledged that the
contaminated area could exceed 930 square miles. The volume of soil in question
—the equivalent of 23 full stadiums, each with a capacity of 55,000 people—is
daunting, as is the estimated cost.
Some
experts say that the decontamination effort will ultimately cost trillions of
yen. The government has so far raised 220 billion yen (approximately $2.9
billion) for the project. Approximately 80,000 people have been forced to evacuate
contaminated areas.
