Tokyo -- Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., ceased production of vehicles at its Murayama plant on March 30, 2001 and the company has now begun plans to prepare the site for sale. The study for future use includes a thorough environmental inspection based on the Nissan Environmental Action Plan and the company has already begun environmental reclamation of the site.
Nissan has already begun consulting with local authorities and has undertaken a comprehensive environmental survey of the property. The results of the complete survey will be complete in late 2001.
The company has already begun testing and has found isolated areas exceeding environmental standards. Initial tests show that the contamination is isolated within specific areas inside the plant, and cleanup of these points will begin while a comprehensive test of 1750 points within 350 areas at the Murayama plant to determine the presence of 17 substances including volatile organic compounds, heavy metals and dioxin.
As part of the "Nissan Environmental Action Plan," the company reviews operations worldwide to identify and correct situations where facilities fall short of continually strengthening environmental standards. Nissan has committed to investing the resources required to see that these initiatives are completed successfully. In September 2000, Nissan announced plans for a complete environmental cleanup of its Ogikubo manufacturing facility, and the land cleanup and the reclamation of the groundwater are on schedule.
1. Environmental inspection plans and future measures
Beginning in April 2001 Nissan will conduct comprehensive environmental review based on the "Soil and Groundwater Contamination Inspections, Solutions Guidelines, and Operating Standards" and considering the "Soil and Groundwater Contamination Prevention Rules" of "Tokyo Metropolitan Environmental Pollution Control Rules" of Tokyo Metropolitan Government which is scheduled to come into effect in October 2001.
The on-site inspection will proceed from areas within the site where manufacturing activities have recently ceased.
The will issue a full report of the inspection results this fall as well as complete cleanup plans and will begin taking corrective action immediately.
2. Inspection results to date and tentative measures
Nissan has already started inspections on isolated areas and has detected the presence of VOC and heavy metals levels which exceed environmental standards have been detected. (For information on the levels detected and specific figures, please refer to the attachment.) Initial results have also identified isolated groundwater contaminants contained within three areas within the industrial site. It has been confirmed that the contamination is confined within the boundaries of the industrial site.
Nissan is working together with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to investigate the matter and in order to prevent any spreading of contamination, Nissan has already begun partial decontamination processes dealing with those points containing contaminated soil and groundwater.
3. Removal of wastes and cleaning up the site
The company will also remove from the site all in-house waste from the plant previously disposed of on the site such as plastic, parts etc. This work will take place beginning in June 2001.
4. The final results of the inspection
The final results of the inspection and countermeasures will be announced around in late 2001 by the company
The Nissan Environmental Action Plan provides guidelines to ensure minimal negative impact on the environment in all stages of the company's activities, including the entire life cycle of a vehicle.