(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

70years, 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 recommend 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.