Plan for Japan quake debris advances

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OSAKA, Japan, May 13 (UPI) -- An agreement has been reached in Japan for the disposal of the ashes from earthquake debris on a man-made island, officials said.

The prefecture of Osaka and various city governments agreed to the proposal to have the ash buried in an existing landfill on the island in Osaka Bay and will finalize the deal after a final meeting with safety experts.

Japan's Ministry of Environment will issue regulations later this month on how to incinerate the debris without allowing radioactive ash to escape, the Kyodo news service said Sunday.

Debris disposal has been a difficult question in the months following the great earthquake and tsunami that leveled wide areas of eastern Japan last year. Fallout from the near-meltdown of a nuclear power plant outside Tokyo has residents alarmed about the possibility that burning the material will only release more radioactive cesium into the air.

Osaka is so far the only prefecture to develop a concrete plan for permanently getting rid of the mountains for waste.