Where can Japan store its nuclear waste? Island plan raises alarm

Protesters wearing protective suits and masks shout slogans next to mock drums of nuclear waste during a rally in Tokyo.

Photo: AFP Recent reports of Japan exploring the feasibility of using the remote Pacific island of Minamitorishima as a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste have raised concern at home and abroad.

An official request to carry out a survey assessing the island’s suitability for the facility was presented to the mayor of Ogasawara village, which nominally administers the island some 1,900km (1,200 miles) southeast of Tokyo, earlier this month.

Similar requests have been made of two towns in Hokkaido as the Japanese government seeks a solution to its growing stockpiles of nuclear waste, which have been accumulating since the country’s first reactor became operational in 1966.

Despite generous payment offers to potential host communities, the requests have triggered fierce resistance over the dangers associated with waste that experts warn may take 100,000 years to reach safe radiation levels.

Tiny Minamitorishima, with its land area of about 1.51 sq km (0.58 square miles), has no permanent residents, only a small military presence alongside civilian government officials who conduct weather observation and maintain port and other facilities. “There are certainly pros and cons for Minamitorishima as the repository,” said Kazuto Suzuki, a professor of science and technology policy at Tokyo University. “On the plus side for the government is that it is effectively an island without a population other than government employees so there is no danger to a civilian population and no need for the government to obtain the permission of people living there.” The island, which is administered by the Ogasawara Islands local authority around 1,200km (745 miles) to the west, also had much of the infrastructure needed for further development, including an airfield and port facilities, Suzuki said.

He added that the island tied in with other energy projects in the region and was being considered by the government as a base for the extraction of rare earth minerals from the seabed.

Suzuki acknowledged drawbacks with the Minamitorishima proposal but noted that no site in Japan would be perfect for storing the nation’s nuclear waste. “It is always going to be a trade-off,” he said. “Look at Finland, the country has a repository for its nuclear fuel and they have made it as safe as they can, but there is always the remote possibility of a

原文链接: 南华早报