No Place for Geological Disposal

Academic experts on the earth science issued a statement which appealed that there is no place in Japan for building a facility for final disposal of high-level radioactive waste made from used fuel in nuclear power plants. They argued that the diastrophism around Japan was too active to select a place for containing the waste for a hundred thousand years. In Japan, “a hundred thousand years” is well known period of time required for detoxifying the nuclear wastes. The government of Japan shows no attitude to listen to their advice.

According to the news reports, the statement was published by over three hundred scholars including former president of the Geological Society of Japan. It pointed out that the islands of Japan are on a fluctuated belt with active volcanoes and earthquakes, where multiple plates converge. It concluded that it is impossible so far to find a place where nuclear waste would not be affected for a hundred thousand years.

 

The Diet of Japan passed the Designated Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Act in 2000, which determined the process of final disposal of nuclear wastes. The law was based on the hope that there would be found a place for “geological disposal,” which meant burying them underground. The statement demands repealing the act and reconsidering the process in a third-party organization. One of their solutions is “provisional storage,” which means waiting for new technological solution.

 

Geological disposal has been a controversial method for final disposal of nuclear waste. Science Council of Japan discussed on the disposal of high-level nuclear waste in 2012, and made six proposals. They are 1) fundamental reviewing of policies on disposal of high-level radioactive waste, 2) recognition about the limit of scientific or technological capability and preserving scientific autonomy, 3) rebuilding policy framework based on provisional storage and quantitative control, 4) necessity of persuasive decision-making on impartial burden sharing, 5) necessity of multi-layered process for building consensus with the fora for discussions, and 6) recognition of necessity for long and consistent effort to solve the problem. It is regarded that the council dismissed geological disposal in the proposal 3).

 

Regardless the advice from academic community, the government of Japan kept on looking for the place for geological disposal, paying no attention to provisional storage. Agency for Natural Resources and Energy published the Scientific Characteristic Map in 2017, a map of Japan which indicates the preferable areas for building the final disposal facility.

 

As a result of governmental effort for selection of the place, with offer of subsidy to the city that accepts research, two towns in Hokkaido raised hands for “documentational research” in 2021. Against the expectation of the government, no other city or town has stepped forward to accept the research.

 

It is obvious for the people that the government is looking for the place for final disposal of nuclear fuels, which will be produced from nuclear power plants as long as nuclear power generation continues, for reactivating as much reactors as possible. The government insists on the geological disposal, because no other scientifically viable way has been found. It needs to listen to the voices from the scientific community now.

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