Decision to Avoid Division

The Mayor of Tsushima City, Nagasaki, announced that he would not accept the research for building the final disposal facility of nuclear waste in the city. Refusing a petition for inviting the research by Tsushima City Council, Mayor Naoki Hitakatsu explained to the council on Wednesday that the consensus had not been achieved among the people in the city and a sharp division still existed. Although the government of Japan publicly recognized its responsibility in the selection of the place for the facility in April, no candidate has been found except two small towns in Hokkaido.

The main reason for refusing the research was possible rumor against Tsushima. “There is a risk of negative reputation and the research plan is not credible enough to remove the concern of the people on safety and the measures in possible accident,” said Hitakatsu in his press conference. He said that he hoped to put a period to the issue.

 

Tsushima’s yearly sales of fishery products amount to ¥16 billion. The income from tourists is ¥18 billion. Hitakatsu calculated the possible damage of the negative reputation as 10% of all, as much as ¥1.6 billion and ¥1.8 billion. If the city accepts the research, it can receive ¥2 billion of subsidy, which is fundamental cause for the groups which seek the acceptance. But Hitakatsu thought the damage would exceed the merit.

 

Tsushima City has been suffering from demographic decline. Its population was reduced from 70 thousand in 1960s to current 28 thousand. ¥2 billion of subsidy for acceptance of the research can be an easy financial resource for building or maintaining necessary infrastructure. The construction business group in Tsushima submitted a petition for accepting the research to the city council in June and the city council passed the petition earlier this month. The decision of Hitakatsu ignored the conclusion of the city council. The group for nuclear disposal facility may be raising a candidate against Hitakatsu in the mayoral election next spring.

 

Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Law requires three steps for determining the place to build a nuclear disposal facility, which are the documentation research, the research for outline and the research for details. What Tsushima refused was the documentation research as the first step. While the documentation research has been proceeding in Suttsu Town and Kamoenai Village in Hokkaido, the government of Japan wants to have at least 10 candidates, because some of them, including Suttsu and Kamoenai, may geologically be inappropriate for the facility.

 

The government of Japan is always poor in building a facility which is unwelcomed by the people. It has been facing firm opposition from Okinawa to relocate Futenma Air Base of US Marine to Henoko. While the government could build a temporary radioactive material disposal facility in Fukushima, it has not found the land for final disposal facility. The government promised Fukushima that the facility would be moved out of Fukushima within thirty years. As long as the government keeps on depending on nuclear power generation, some people will be annoyed by the argument for disposal of nuclear waste.