Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011

Sasebo nuclear waste disposal urged

KYODO

Norio Tomonaga, mayor of Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, urged the central government Friday to swiftly dispose of low-level radioactive waste gathered during the U.S. forces' disaster relief operations and stored at the local U.S. Navy base.

Separately the same day, Okinawa also urged the Foreign Ministry on Thursday to swiftly disclose information on the radioactive materials similarly stored at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, local officials said.

"Okinawa residents are concerned. We need enough information on it," said Susumu Matayoshi, chief of the Okinawa governor's public liaison office.

The low-level radioactive waste includes cleaning cloth and other items used by the navy when decontaminating aircraft deployed to the quake and tsunami-devastated areas of the northeast during Operation Tomodachi, officials in Sasebo said.

The nuclear waste poses no harm since the radiation only amounts to 3.2 microsieverts, according to the Foreign Ministry.

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