The government said Wednesday it will earmark in the fiscal 2014 budget plan about ¥100 billion as part of the costs to purchase land to build "interim" storage facilities for radioactive waste generated as a result of land decontamination from fallout from Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant disaster.
It is expected to spend about ¥1 trillion to construct and maintain the facilities, which it hopes to use from January 2015.
A vast area of land surrounding the Fukushima plant has been contaminated by radioactive material released due to the 2011 meltdown of three reactors. Around 140,000 Fukushima Prefecture residents still live as evacuees.
Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara and reconstruction minister Takumi Nemoto are scheduled to visit Fukushima on Saturday to seek approval from Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato and other local leaders on the construction of the interim storage facilities.