The Jinkanpo Atsugi Incinerator was a waste

incinerator Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...

located in

Ayase Ayase may refer to: Places *Ayase, Kanagawa, Japan *Ayase, an area in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan ** Ayase Station, train station in Adachi, Tokyo People *Ayase (music producer) (born 1994), Japanese vocaloid producer *, Japanese actress *, Japanese foot ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, operated by Enviro-Tech (formerly Shinkampo). It began operation in the 1980s and was closed in 2001. The incinerator was near

Naval Air Facility Atsugi is a joint Japan-US naval air base located in the cities of Yamato and Ayase in Kanagawa, Japan. It is the largest United States Navy (USN) air base in the Pacific Ocean and once housed the squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5), which dep ...

, a base manned partly by several thousand

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

members and their families. Throughout its history, the incinerator reportedly blew toxic and cancerous emissions over the neighbouring base facilities. The incinerator's owners, arrested and jailed for charges of

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

, neglected the maintenance of the facility. The pollution had become so much of a health concern for the American residents that if they showed signs of adverse health effects, the U.S. military authorities allowed them to leave early (usually service members are stationed at the base for a tour of three years). Many U.S. service members reported sickness and a few died from

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shortly after moving back to the

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. However, the US Navy has not formally established a connection between their exposure and their disease. For a time, the base required service members to undergo medical screenings before being stationed at the base in order to ensure that they had no medical condition that would be worsened by the poor air quality. In May 2001, the Japanese government purchased the plant for nearly 40 million dollars and shut it down following a

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

lawsuit against the private incinerator owner. Dismantling was completed by the end of that year. Some former residents of Atsugi NAF still complain of health problems related to the incinerator's emissions and report that the USN has been reluctant to address their concerns. The incinerator contaminated the base, especially the housing area, with dioxin, heavy metals, and other deadly toxins. In June, 2007, the USN's Environmental Health Center announced that it would conduct a study of the health population of those stationed at NAF Atsugi during the time the incinerator was in operation. The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center has stated that a new health study is currently underway and should be released in the summer of 2009.

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{coord missing, Kanagawa Prefecture History of the United States Navy United States military in Japan Buildings and structures in Kanagawa Prefecture Japan–United States relations Law of Japan Pollution in Japan Incinerators Environmental disasters in Japan