Japan on Shinkampo incinerator

[John Visher <visherjc@crisscross.com>]

YOMIURI (LOCAL PAGE) 991027

EMERGENCY INVESTIGATION OF DIOXIN TO BEGIN OFF BASE

TOKYO, Yokohama - The Environment Agency and Kanagawa prefectural
government
(KPG) decided on October 26 to conduct an emergency investigation of
dioxin
outside the Naval Air Facility (NAF), Atsugi, which sits on the northern

side of the industrial waste disposal facility in Ayase City.

According to the agency, the joint investigation was requested by the
American side. Both the Japanese and U.S. Governments operated together
the
dioxin investigation inside the base. Now the agency and the KPG will
also
investigate air and soil of a residential area and an industrial area
which
are located southern part of the facility due to the seasonal wind
changes;
south wind in summer and north wind in winter.

The Environment and Agricultural Administration Department of the KPG
has
not disclosed details of the coming investigation. The department is to
announce an interim report at the end of next month.

http://www.pstripes.com/edw.html
              Wednesday, October 27, 1999

              Pollution levels unsafe
              at Atsugi, report
              confirms

              By Matt Curtis
              Stripes Zama Bureau Chief

              TOKYO - Japanese officials now have it on record -
              the smoke coming from Ayase's Enviro-Tech incinerator
              is unsafe for U.S. sailors and their families living at
              nearby Atsugi Naval Air Facility.

              U.S. and Japanese investigators are halfway through a
              joint study of the area surrounding Enviro-Tech's waste
              disposal plant.

              Preliminary data released Monday showed the facility
              churns out dangerously high levels of dioxin - a
              compound formed by burning plastics and other
              materials at low temperatures.

              The study shows the incinerator generates as much as
              58 picograms of dioxin per cubic meter of air.

              Japanese agencies consider anything above 0.8
              picogram (less than one-trillionth of a gram) as unsafe.

              Those numbers aren't new to the U.S. Navy.

              Since 1995, officials have released surveys with similar
              findings, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. James Graybeal,
              spokesman for Command Naval Forces Japan.

              But up until now, Graybeal said, Japanese agencies
              have been reluctant to accept U.S. figures because they
              were never involved in the actual research.

              "I think it's safe to say this latest study, using
Japanese
              methodology, Japanese labs, the whole works, has
              grabbed their attention," he said Tuesday. "This was so
              consistent with all of our past studies. It validates what

              we've said for the past five years. And now the
              government of Japan can see it now, too."

              Graybeal said it's safe to assume the incinerator is the
              main contributor to the poor air quality seen around
              Atsugi.

              Air samples collected on base, but out of the path of the
              plant's smoke plumes, had dioxin levels of 0.64
              picogram, Graybeal said.

              Enviro-Tech President Kikuo Ozawa declined to
              comment.

              The study, which ran from July-September, is slated to
              resume next summer. A final report is due later next
              year.

              The data collected so far helps guarantee that, by this
              winter, the Enviro-Tech incinerator will start to see a
              series of structural improvements, Graybeal said.

              By February, Japanese health agencies will install filters

              to screen some of the hazardous particles from the
              plant's exhaust.

              By March 2001, a set of 100-meter-tall smokestacks
              will be installed at the plant.

              (Mayumi Yamamoto contributed to this report)


 (October 26)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/news10-99/news10-26.html
          Record dioxin levels found at Atsugi

          A privately run incinerator adjacent to the Atsugi Naval Air
Facility in Kanagawa Prefecture was operating as usual Tuesday, one day
          after the Environment Agency revealed that unprecedented
levels of dioxin had been detected in air above the base.

          The incinerator operator, Enviro-Tech, would not say whether
it had been contacted by authorities since Monday's release of a joint
study
          conducted by the Environment Agency and the U.S. military.

          The 56-day study of ambient dioxin levels within the military
base recorded a high of 58 picograms of the chemical per cubic meter of
air
          -- nearly 100 times the 0.6 picogram figure the agency's
advisory body has approved as the new environmental limit.

          Environment Agency officials admit the situation requires
immediate attention but say that because past surveys of ash and
emissions from
          the incinerator have not contravened environmental standards,
it cannot act under the Air Pollution Control Law.

          Officials say they are currently conferring with the Health
and Welfare Ministry and Kanagawa Prefecture on how to address the
issue.

          The highest air contamination level previously recorded in
Japan was 4.9 picograms, logged in Yokohama in 1997. A picogram is a
          trillionth of a gram.

          During the nearly two-month study, dioxin levels in the air
exceeded the current government guideline of 0.8 picograms for 44 days
and
          averaged 7.4 picograms, a level the agency says requires
immediate action.

          Agency officials attributed the high levels in part to
geographic features -- the incinerator is located in a valley below the
base -- as well as
          wind direction.

          A U.S. military spokesman said dioxin pollution has been a
serious concern for at least a decade and data on dioxin levels in the
air
          compiled by the U.S. Navy over the past five years are very
similar to the recent findings.

          "(The incinerator) is still burning, still polluting," public
affairs officer Lt. Cmdr. James Graybeal said. "It is burning as much as

ever and we
          anxiously await the final solution to this problem."

          A health risk assessment by the navy found that a three-year
stint on the base was the equivalent of smoking cigarettes for more than

70
          years, he added.

          Graybeal also said that base officials have long been calling
on the Japanese government to require that taller smokestacks be built
-- 100
          meters compared to the current smokestacks, which are about 27

meters tall and sit in a 13-meter deep valley -- and install baghouse
          filters to catch particulate matter, especially dioxin. At
least one of these steps is supposed to be implemented early next year.

          The joint survey included soil samples and dioxin levels in
air were studied at three areas within the base from July to September.

          According to the government, the incinerator was built in 1980

and burns an assortment of waste, including paper, wood scraps, plastic
          and household garbage.

     New dioxin standard recommended

          An advisory committee to the Environment Agency agreed to
recommend that the environmental limit for dioxin levels in the air be
set at
          0.6 picogram per cubic meter of air, according to a report
released Tuesday.

          The new figure is part of a comprehensive drive to resolve the

nation's dioxin problem and will be one of four ceilings mandated under
a
          dioxin control law passed in July. The law and the new
standards will go into effect in January.

          Under the new regulations, governors will be able to issue
orders to regulate the amount of dioxin emissions in a given area,
theoretically
          leading to the closure of facilities that produce high levels
of dioxin. Until now, the government has made do with a non-legally
binding
          guideline of 0.8 picograms per cubic gram of air, a level
established in the autumn of 1997.

          The new limit is designed to help keep the amount of dioxin
ingested by people within the tolerable daily intake level of 1 to 4
picograms
          per kilogram of body weight, as set by the agency and the
Health and Welfare Ministry earlier this year. A picogram is a
trillionth of a
          gram.

          The tolerable daily intake is the amount of dioxin scientists
believe people can safely ingest without affecting their health.

          Experts believe people take in about 5 to 15 percent of dioxin

from the air, with most of the remainder ingested through food --
especially
          fish, meat and dairy products.

          The government also plans to introduce tougher emission
standards and expand them to include small-scale incinerators that burn
more
          than 50 kg of waste per hour. The plans also call for
increasing the types of facilities that are subject to dioxin emissions
regulations,
          including sintering plants, aluminelectric smelt furnaces and
aluminum alloy producers.