Urgent Countermeasures! PCB Treatment Technology 2000 11 76

Urgent Countermeasures! PCB Treatment Technology 2000 11 76
The treatment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has finally shown signs of going into full swing. PCBs are nonflammable and insulating, and were widely used as insulating oil in transformers and for pressure-sensitive copying paper, but their toxicity was confirmed in the Kanemi oil poisoning incident in 1968. In 1972, the production and use of PCBs were banned under administrative guidance, and businesses using PCBs were required to store them under strict conditions. The amount of PCBs used in Japan up to that time is said to be about 54,000 tons, but since undiluted PCBs are usually used, the amount of electrical equipment and waste requiring treatment is several times larger than that.

When the dangers of PCBs surfaced in the 1970s and early 1980s, MITI attempted to construct 39 PCB treatment facilities nationwide, but at the time the only method available was incineration, and all were abandoned due to opposition from nearby residents. As a result, PCB disposal has made slow progress to date. Another problem was the lack of a system to monitor the storage status of the operators, and some of the PCBs that remained in storage were lost.

In October 2000, PCBs were also found in elementary schools in Hachioji City, Tokyo, and Gifu Prefecture, where students were exposed to PCBs. In October 2000, PCBs were also found on students at elementary schools in Hachioji City, Tokyo, and in Gifu Prefecture. The Japan Lighting Fixture Manufacturers Association (JLIA) and other organizations have been urging local governments to replace their lighting fixtures, but the cost of replacing a single fixture, which is around 20,000 yen, has been a bottleneck. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education in the spring of 2000, one-quarter of the nation's municipalities were still using PCB-based ballasts in their schools, as well as in fluorescent lamps in hospitals and welfare facilities, mercury lamps in streetlights, and sodium lamps in tunnels.

Therefore, the ministries and agencies concerned, including the Ministry of Health, Welfare, Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Environment, have cooperated to compile a plan for emergency measures to replace ballasts containing PCBs with safe ones for all public facilities by the end of fiscal year 2001.

In recent years, new advanced treatment technologies have been developed, and some major companies have begun to treat their own storage. The Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing Law was revised in June 1998 to allow "supercritical water oxidation reaction" and "dechlorination decomposition method," and the "Intermediate Treatment Method for Waste PCB Contaminated Materials and PCB Treated Materials (Notification of the Ministry of Health and Welfare)" was partially revised to allow "photolysis method (thermochemical reaction, photochemical reaction, etc.)" as an intermediate treatment method and "separation equipment method" for removing The "Methods of Intermediate Treatment of PCB Contaminated Waste (Notification of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)" was partially amended.

The problem is the amount of PCBs stored by small and medium-sized enterprises that have yet to be treated. According to a survey of PCB storage in 1998 compiled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in July 2000, 220,000 high-voltage transformers and capacitors were found, nearly twice as many as in the previous survey (1992). The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) also took note of this problem, and, saying that the 10-year period was too long, instructed the three ministries of Health, Welfare, MITI, and the Environment to establish a law. The LDP's proposal, tentatively called the "Law on Special Measures against PCBs," is expected to include a basic plan for accelerated treatment, clarify the roles of the national government, local governments, and storage companies, and establish a framework for new subsidy measures, etc. The LDP hopes to submit and pass the bill in the ordinary Diet session in 2001. In some cases, the bill may be passed by the Diet.