TOKYO: Japan's industry ministry sought Monday (Aug 31) to conduct a preliminary survey in a city in Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, with a view to selecting the city as a potential disposal site for highly radioactive waste, Kyodo News reported.
Hitachiomiya would become the fifth location for such a preliminary survey if it accepts the plan.
The selection process involves three stages spanning around 20 years.
The preliminary survey, the first stage, takes about two years and participating municipalities can receive up to 2 billion yen (US$13 million) in subsidies.
Hitachiomiya Mayor Sadayuki Suzuki said, "Personally, I view the proposal positively. I will listen to the opinions of city assembly members before making a final decision."
The process can begin either when municipalities apply to become candidate sites or when the government seeks their consent. Hitachiomiya is the second site eyed as a potential site by the central government, following Ogasawara, an island chain administered by the Tokyo metropolitan government that includes Minamitori Island at the easternmost edge of the country's territorial waters in the Pacific.
Suttsu and Kamoenai, both in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and Genkai in the southwestern prefecture of Saga, are also being considered.
The disposal of nuclear waste involves solidifying the liquid waste generated during the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel into glass and burying it more than 300 metres underground.
Because the waste emits extremely strong radiation, it must remain buried and isolated from human populations for tens of thousands of years. _ Bernama-Kyodo
