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Discussions Resume On Finding Japan Final Disposal Site

By David Dalton
13 June 2007

13 Jun (NucNet): Discussions have resumed aimed at finding a final disposal site for Japan’s high-level radioactive waste (HLW), with plans to have the facility operational by 2037.

The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum said the Electric Utility Industry Subcommittee’s working committee on radioactive waste met for the tenth time and will meet several more times before preparing an interim report on the search for a disposal site by around August 2007.

According to Japan’s Nuclear Waste Management Organisation (NUMO), the organisation in charge of implementing final disposal policy, Japan wants to start construction of a repository in 2025 and have the facility operational by between 2033 and 2037.

The town of Toyo in Kochi prefecture in the south of the country has formally offered to host the facility.

But committee members heard there have been problems reaching a consensus on potential sites because of reaction from opposition groups and objections by local governors.

The Toyo application is supported by the town’s mayor, but opposed by the Kochi prefecture governor. About 60 percent of Toyo residents have signed a petition against the initiative.

In February 2007 NUMO said it planned to have a high-level waste facility in operation through a voluntary site selection process.

While no committee members called for a review of the voluntary system, it was suggested the government should also look for possible sites in areas that already have nuclear energy facilities.

Masaru Kitano, a professor at Meiji University, told the committee the final decision should be in the hands of the citizens. It was also proposed that the siting decision could be part of a package, with a research institute included.

Meanwhile, a bill revising sections of Japan’s final disposal policy was passed by the Japanese Diet (parliament) on 6 June and will take effect within one year. The bill includes a provision calling for the selection of a HLW disposal site without delay.

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