Japan Puts Fukushima Soil in Prime Minister’s Flower Beds to Show It’s Safe

In March 2011, an earthquake triggered a massive tsunami along Japan’s coast. The surging waters caused the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to lose power. As a result, the cooling systems of three reactors failed, and their cores experienced a partial meltdown, releasing radiation into the environment in the second worst nuclear accident in history. While the earthquake and tsunami claimed over 18,000 lives, the nuclear accident itself didn’t cause any direct radiation deaths. However, 14 years later, Japan is still dealing with its consequences—including over 494 million cubic feet (14 million cubic meters) of slightly radioactive soil, equivalent to 11 Tokyo Domes. To demonstrate that the soil is now safe enough to repurpose, Japan announced on Tuesday plans to use some in the flower beds at the Prime Minister’s office, as reported by Japan Today. The soil has been sitting at an interim storage facility near the Fukushima Daiichi complex since its removal during decontamination work, ... Read full article.