Literature Survey in Minamitorishima

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ryosei Akazawa, announced to Chief of Ogasawara Village, Masaaki Shibuya, that he would make a literature survey for building a final disposal facility of nuclear waste in Minamitorishima Island which belongs to the village. Although the island is located far from mainland of Japan, it is still unclear whether the facility will actually be built in the island. 

Japan has no final disposal facility for nuclear waste produced from nuclear power plants. Having decided to bury the waste underground, the government of Japan has been looking for municipalities to accept building final disposal facility. Before building the facility, it is required for the government to have “literature survey,” “preliminary investigation” and “detailed investigation” to determine the place.

 

Three municipalities have so far stepped forward to accept literature survey in which the government would make researches on academic documents about past earthquakes. They are Suttsu Town and Kamoenai Village in Hokkaido, and Genkai Town in Saga. Ogasawara Village became the fourth candidate to accept a literature survey in Japan. However, there is no local community that has accepted the next step, preliminary investigation.

 

The process of decision on literature survey in Minamitorishima was different from former three examples. While the three previous candidates raised hand to express willingness to accept the survey, it was the government of Japan that took initiative of decision for Minamitorishima. Shibuya strangely announced on April 13th that the government of Japan should decide whether they would make the survey without saying yes or no on it. It was effectively a renouncement of autonomy of local government.

 

Although Minamitorishima belongs to Ogasawara Village, Tokyo, the island is most distant from metropolitan Tokyo, 2,000 kilometers away, among the four candidates for final disposal area of nuclear waste. It is generally estimated that the bedrock around Minamitorishima is relatively stabler than other three locations. There lives no permanent resident on the island.

 

However, the island is a small top of a volcano most of which is sunk under sea water. The land above sea surface has only 1.5 square kilometers, having no sufficient size of land for a final disposal facility. Therefore, the facility is supposed to be built underwater. The sea around the island has a quite large depth, making the construction difficult. The island is surrounded by international waters in the middle of Pacific Ocean.

 

The government of Japan provides with 2 billion yen of subsidy for a municipality that accepts literature survey. One that accepts preliminary investigation will receive 7 billion yen. Shibuya has not decided whether Ogasawara Village will proceed to the next step. But it seems to be not so easy for Ogasawara Village, which have once given its autonomy up, to reject a request of national government for preliminary investigation.

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