Japan to carry out study on remote Pacific island for its fourth nuclear waste site
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A nuclear power plant in Japan. High-level radioactive waste must be stored in bedrock at least 300m underground for tens of thousands of years until the radioactivity declines.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
TOKYO – The Japanese government will conduct a survey on the suitability of a remote island for a planned underground disposal site for highly radioactive waste after gaining approval from the mayor of a Tokyo village.
If selected, Minamitori Island, a remote speck on land at the easternmost edge of the country’s territory in the Pacific, will become the fourth such site in Japan.
The survey is the first part of a three-stage, 20-year process to select a permanent storage site for waste from nuclear power generation.
Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa told Ogasawara Mayor Masaaki Shibuya in a meeting in Tokyo that the government will carry out the survey.
Mr Shibuya said he will “accept the government’s decision” but urged the state “to make good” on its promise to implement measures including against negative publicity.
Only the Suttsu and Kamoenai areas in Hokkaido have completed the preliminary survey, while another is still under way in Genkai in Saga prefecture.
The initial stage is expected to take two years and involves checking land conditions and volcanic activity based on published geological sources.
“The government will be at the forefront in making the request to move to the next stage at the earliest possible date,” Mr Akazawa said.
Unlike the other three municipalities that have approved the survey, Minamitori Island, which is under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, has no civilian population.
Its only inhabitants are Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force members and government personnel.
The survey begins either when municipalities apply or when the government seeks their consent, with participating municipalities receiving up to 2 billion yen (S$16 million) in stipends.
High-level radioactive waste, produced when extracting uranium and plutonium from spent fuel, must be stored in bedrock at least 300m underground for tens of thousands of years until the radioactivity declines to a level that is not harmful to human health or the environment. KYODO NEWS
