ground-breaking ceremonies were held tuesday in fut aba and okuma. two facilities will be built, one for storing waste, the other to store soil.

. >> repter: ground breaking remonies were held tuesday in the towns of futaba and okuma. it'll be on a site that straddles the two. one will store waste and one will store soil. >> translator: i want each one of you to take pride in being a part of this essential work for regional revival. >> reporter: many tons of material were contaminated five years ago when the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant suffered a meltdown. officials say it hadn't been possible to acquire land for the new site. the environment ministry plans to start operating the complex about a year from now. >>> japan's nuclear regulator has again given approval for an aging reactor to operate beyond a mandated 40-year limit. >> reporter: the regulator gave the green light for up to 20 more years of operation. the reactor is part of the mihama nuclear power plant in central japan. the regulator the reactor meets the standards. but it pointed to an accident that took the lives of five workers. they were killed when high pressu steam leaked from a damaged pipe. the regulator has urged kansai electric power, the

ground-breaking ceremonies were held tuesday in fut aba and okuma. two facilities will be built, one for storing waste, the other to store soil. >> translator: i want each one of you to take pride in being a part of this essential work for reeb regional revival. >> thousands of tons of material was contaminated five years ago when the nearby fukushima daichii nuclear plant suffered a triple meltdown. the waste has been kept at temporary sites longer than the three years the government had promised. it says it hadn't been able to acquire the land for the new site. the environment ministry plans to begin operating the facility in about a year. >> a lawyer for a boy who was bullied after fleeing the fukushima disaster has spoken out. he released a note the boy wrote last year about what he went through at a primary school south of tokyo and how he considered killing himself. the boy writes that while he thought of suicide, he decided to keep on living, even if it was painful. he kept in mind how many people lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami