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by Reuters

The waste, originating from U.S. military bases in Japan and containing carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, arrived back in Japan in April after a Pacific odyssey that saw it refused entry in Canada and the United States.

It will leave Yokohama for storage on Wake Island by May 18, an embassy statement said.

"The waste PCB to be shipped from Japan resulted from ongoing efforts by U.S. military forces to make its installations PCB-free, worldwide," it said.

The waste will remain at Wake Island until a final disposal site is determined. The U.S. Army has a missile launch support facility on the tiny Pacific island about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from Hawaii.

The U.S. government had been considering sending the PCB-contaminated trash to remote Johnston Island, a wildlife refuge about 700 miles (1,126 km) southwest of Hawaii, that is home to nesting seabirds and rare seals.

The waste consists of surplus electrical transformers, circuit breakers and other electrical equipment that contain traces of PCBs.

The chemicals have been banned by numerous countries since 1977 as a cancer risk and their manufacture is prohibited in the United States.

The shipment left Japan in March, but dockworkers and government officials in Vancouver and Seattle refused to accept it last month. That forced the military to send the waste back to Yokohama, where it has been in limbo and the target of protests by environmental activists.

U.S. law prohibits foreign-originated PCBs from entering the country, even if they are owned by the U.S. government.

The Pentagon and its Canadian disposal contractor, Trans-Cycle Industries, insist that the PCB content in the shipment is extremely low and no more dangerous than that in refrigerators and other equipment routinely handled by disposal crews.

The U.S. embassy said the waste was stored safely.