Request for Final Nuclear Disposal Site

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry requested Genkai Town, Saga, to accept “literature survey” for building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Genkai is going to answer within this month. If it accepts, it will be the third place to accept that survey, following two places in Hokkaido. Main reason to accept the survey is supposed to be subsidy from the national government. 

Japan has no final disposal site. Among all 54 reactors in 17 nuclear power generation plant, 12 reactors of 6 plants are operating. The rest of them are not in operation, some of which are determined to be decommissioned. Used nuclear fuels are stocked in each plant,　or have sent to a reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori. There are two plans to stock nuclear wastes in the intermediate facility for disposal, one is already built and another is still in negotiation.

 

Nuclear Fuel Final Disposal Act in 2000 determines to bury nuclear waste in the underground. Literature survey, which is looking into paper and data, is the first stage to decide where to build the final disposal site. If a place passed the first stage, it may go to “rough survey” of the second stage, and then to “detailed survey” of the final stage.

 

A local government that accepted a literature survey will receive ¥2 billion of subsidy, which can use for building infrastructure for the residents. If it accepts a rough survey, it will receive ¥7 billion. Two governments in Hokkaido, Suttsu and Kamoenai which accepted literature survey, have already received that subsidy.

 

Some business groups in Genkai, such as hotels or restaurants, submitted a petition for accepting the literature survey to the local assembly in April. The Assembly approved that petition within three weeks from receiving the petition. Genkai has a nuclear power plant. It is the first time for a local assembly, which has a nuclear power plant, to pass a petition for accepting the literature survey.

 

The mayor of Genkai, Shintaro Wakiyama, announced that he would decide whether the town will step forward to accept the survey after the Golden Week recess. There is an example that the mayor of Tsushima city, Nagasaki, rejected the survey last September, after its assembly approved a petition.

 

METI’s request was to push Wakiyama to decide accepting the survey. METI argued that the literature survey has a certain value for generating public understandings on final disposal and accumulating technological expertise. Wakiyama insisted on his willingness to contribute to the national energy policies.

 

However, it is unsure that the people in Genkai are overwhelmingly supportive for the survey. Governor of Saga, Yoshinori Yamaguchi, has announced that he was not willing to accept further burden. Basically, most land of Genkai is designated as unpreferable for building a final disposal site in the scientific quality map released in 2017. The decision for survey will be about whether to receive subsidy, rather than whether to build a final disposal site.

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