Slightly radioactive soil from near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be transported to Tokyo and used in flower beds in the prime minister’s garden, in an attempt to prove to a skeptical public that the material is safe. The decision comes 14 years after the plant suffered a triple meltdown in the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chornobyl. It would be used as foundation material and covered with topsoil thick enough to keep radiation at negligible levels. The Fukushima Daiichi plant released large quantities of radiation into the atmosphere after it was struck by a powerful earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. Last month, local opposition forced the environment ministry to abandon a pilot project to use some of the Fukushima soil as landfill for flower beds and lawns at public parks in and around Tokyo.
