In Japan, ‘desperate’ shrinking towns eye radioactive nuclear waste storage to make a fast buck: ‘it’s all about money’

Tiny Kaminoseki town and idyllic Tsushima island could soon host spent fuel from nuclear plants elsewhere in Japan that are running out of the storage

Residents oppose the plans, but observers say local mayors are getting ‘desperate for funds’ after decades of population loss to the big cities

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Kansai Electric Power Co’s Ohi nuclear power plant’s No. 4 reactor in Ohi, Fukui prefecture. Photo: Reuters/Kyodo

Published: 9:30am, 22 Aug 2023Updated: 10:43am, 22 Aug 2023

Two communities in southern Japan have agreed to undergo preliminary evaluations to host sites for radioactive nuclear waste and spent fuel from the nation’s atomic energy plants, despite opposition from environmental groups and locals.

Authorities in Kaminoseki, a town in Yamaguchi prefecture with some 2,340 residents, said on Friday they would permit Chugoku Electric Power Co. to carry out a survey for an interim site to store spent nuclear fuel before it is recycled, just 16 days after the firm made the proposal.

Local officials reached the decision without a vote and town council members were not allowed to ask any questions, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. Around 100 people gathered outside the town hall during the closed-door meeting to oppose the plan.

Tetsuo Nishi, mayor of Kaminoseki in the Japanese prefecture of Yamaguchi, speaks about the nuclear fuel storage issue at a town meeting on Friday. Photo: Kyodo

Mayor Tetsuo Nishi said after the meeting: “We have decided to accept the firm’s proposal. The survey and construction [of a waste dump] are separate issues.”

Nishi said the town had effectively been forced to accept the utility company’s request as it needed the funds. Kaminoseki had previously been earmarked as the site of a new nuclear power plant with two reactors, but that plan was halted after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.

Under the agreement, Chugoku Electric will carry out a borehole survey on the site of the planned nuclear plant to determine if it is geologically stable. The town will receive 140 million yen (US$964,400) every year during the survey stage. Once the study is complete and if the site is deemed viable, the company will propose a plan to build an interim nuclear waste storage site.

If Yamaguchi prefecture’s governor approves that plan, Kaminoseki will earn 2 billion yen (US$13.8 million) over two years, as well as annual payments as soon as the first waste is delivered.