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Radioactive vehicles pile up in Japanese yards

Japan – Vehicle recyclers in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan are suffering serious consequences of last year’€™s earthquake-related nuclear power plant accidents. End-of-life vehicles and car carcasses contaminated with radiation are said to be accumulating in recyclers’€™ yards.

According to Napro Fukushima Co., a car recycler located in Hironomachi in the so-called Emergency Evacuation Preparation Zone, a shredder operator group has established a voluntary limit of 0.3 micro sievert if blocks of pressed cars are to be accepted; any blocks with radiation levels exceeding the limit are rejected. By comparison, a Toyota Crown taken from Iwaki city several months ago has recorded 2.9 micro sievert of radiation; such highly-contaminated vehicles used in the cities of Fukushima, Koriyama and Iwaki are often found, says the company.


In effect, it is argued, contaminated vehicles have nowhere to go once they arrive at recyclers’€™ sites; even if they are dismantled and scrapped, shredder operators will not accept them and so they are increasingly piled up in recyclers’€™ yards.


Source: Daily Automotive News Japan

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