Minamisoma declares August "Decontamination Month"

The Japan Times reports that, in a desperate bid to save its town of 70,000 from permanent abandonment by nearly half its residents, Minamisoma has undertaken "symbolic" efforts to "cut in half" its radioactive contamination, to show that it will not "sit idly by" nearly six months after the triple meltdown just 20 km (12.4 miles) from its city limits at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. However, the radioactively contaminated runoff from hosing down schools is almost certainly simply running into storm drains and sewers, then on to local water treatment facilities and/or into local surface waters, to flow downstream. Radioactively contaminated topsoil removed from playgrounds and parks is simply being buried in unlined trenches in less frequented public areas. Parts of town outside the 20 km "no go zone" are already officially open to residents returning, despite remaining contaminated. The Japanese federal government apparently plans to allow residents to return to their communities even within the 20 km zone early next year, despite admitting it has few to no disposal or processing options for the widespread radioactive contamination.