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| Tokai Rika Addresses Issues of Soil and Groundwater Contamination at Three Plants in Japan |
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Aichi, Japan, March 1, 2002 - Tokai Rika Co., Ltd., a technology-focused supplier of automobile components, recently reported to the Aichi prefectural government and local authorities that its ongoing underground and groundwater tests had detected levels of contaminants at three of its five plants that were above the acceptable limits set by Japan's environmental standards. The three plants are the Nishibiwajima plant (48 Izumi-machi, Nishibiwajima-cho, Nishikasugai-gun, Aichi); the Toyota Plant (2-47-1 Konosu-cho, Toyota, Aichi); and the Otowa Plant (1 Aza-Hirayama, Oaza-Akasaka, Otowa-cho, Hoi-gun, Aichi). On February 27 and 28 company officials held meetings with representatives of neighborhood residents to explain the contamination levels at the three plants and the remediation measures that have since been undertaken.
Because of its concern about the past use of organic chlorinated compounds at its plants, Tokai Rika has been voluntarily conducting groundwater and underground contamination tests since 1995, in accordance with the testing guidelines established by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in 1994. The presence of trichloroethylene and its decomposed compounds in concentrations exceeding the environmental standards was first detected at the Nishibiwajima Plant in 1996. These contaminants were later detected at the Toyota and Otowa plants in the course of underground and groundwater tests conducted between May and August 2001 as part of company-wide environmental testing. Tokai Rika's other two plants, the Head Office Plant and the Hagi Plant, have been deemed free from contamination.
The company's environmental tests have all indicated that the contamination is restricted to the plant sites, and tests conducted around the circumference of the sites have yielded levels below the environmental standards. Thus the company believes the soil and groundwater contamination has not migrated beyond the company compounds.
Tokai Rika has been rigorously cleaning the soil and groundwater in the contaminated areas of the plants. The soil remediation process primarily utilizes the soil vapor extraction method, which involves sinking extraction wells into the contaminated ground to extract soil gases, and removing trichloroethylene through active carbon absorbents. Contaminated groundwater is treated by the air stripping method: wells are installed, the groundwater is pumped upward into vertical columns above ground, and, as the columns of water descend, air is forced upward through the column to vaporize the water and strip out vapor contaminants with active carbon absorbents. At the Nishbiwajima Plant, the soil remediation work was completed in 2001, while groundwater treatment has been under way since 1998. Soil remediation and groundwater treatment have also been ongoing at the Toyota and Otowa Plants since 2001.
In conjunction with its testing program, Tokai Rika also analyzed the past use of trichloroethylene at the three plants, where the chemical was used until 1984 to scrub off oil from some metal parts. The company assumes that trichloroethylene liquid spilled onto the floor while it was being decanted from one container to another, then leaked into the soil through cracks in the plant floor. Tokai Rika abolished the use of trichloroethylene well before Japan's Ministry of the Environment designated it a harmful substance in October 1989.
Tokai Rika has been actively engaged in environmental preservation programs to prevent pollution, reduce industrial wastes and save energy, particularly since it established a global environmental protection policy in 1992 and began implementing environmental action plans in 1993. Tokai Rika was granted a company-wide ISO-14001 certification in March 2000, and continues to conduct environmental tests at the plants and make improvements in its environmental management activities.
Past use of trichloroethylene at the three plants
|
Period of use |
Estimated volume used (cumulative) |
| Nishibiwajima |
Early1960s to 1971 |
0.8 ton/month (100 tons) |
| Toyota |
Around1972 to 1984 |
1-2 tons/month (200 tons) |
| Otowa |
Around1966 to 1976 |
1-2 tons/month (120 tons) |
Most recent groundwater test results
Unit: Milligrams/liter
|
Chloride
compounds |
Environmental
standard |
Test results
in January 2002 |
Highest contamination
levels [date recorded] |
| Nishibiwajima |
trichloroethylene |
0.03 |
ND-0.038
(1.3 times the standard) |
0.13(4.3 times the standard)
[Nov. 2000] |
1,1
dichloroethylene |
0.02 |
ND-0.012
(below the standard) |
0.024(1.2 times the standard)
[July 2001] |
Cis-1,2
dichloroethylene |
0.04 |
ND-1.98
(49.5 times the standard) |
3.41(85.3 times the standard)
[July 2000] |
| Toyota |
trichloroethylene |
0.03 |
ND-1.63
(54.3 times the standard) |
2.43(81 times the standard)
[July 2001] |
Cis-1,2
dichloroethylene |
0.04 |
ND-0.06
(1.5 times the standard) |
0.145(3.6 times the standard)
[May 2001] |
Otowa
|
trichloroethylene |
0.03 |
ND-0.002
(below the standard) |
0.30(10 times the standard)
[August 2001] |
Cis-1,2
dichloroethylene |
0.04 |
ND |
0.05(1.3 times the standard)
[August 2001] |
ND indicates "not detected." Parenthetical notations indicate approximate comparisons with the environmental standards.
Note: The highest contamination levels for the Otowa Plant were found in the groundwater in extraction wells during the soil remediation processes.
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TOKAI RIKA CO., LTD.
