TOKUSHIMA, Japan, Dec. 20 (Kyodo) — The soil and groundwater underneath the Tokushima Prefecture plant of Nippon Denko Co. have been found to be contaminated with amounts of hexavalent chromium far exceeding the legally allowed limit, company officials said Thursday.
The Tokyo-headquartered chemicals producer says it learned about the pollution as a result of inspections undertaken between June and August ahead of the partial closure of the plant where chromium salt production ended earlier this month. No health damage has been reported so far, according to the company.
The amounts of the toxin exceeded the legal limit by a factor of up to 400 at eight places on the ground and by a factor of up to 15,800 at four places in the aquifer.
The company plans to clean up the area and build a wall that reaches 11 meters into the ground to prevent the polluted groundwater from seeping into nearby areas
Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Kyodo News International.
