Hitachiomiya, Ibaraki Pref. – The industry ministry Monday asked the city of Hitachiomiya in Ibaraki Prefecture to accept a survey for selecting a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. If realized, Hitachiomiya would become the fifth site in the country to accept such a survey, after the town of Suttsu and the village of Kamoenai, both in Hokkaido, the town of Genkai in Saga Prefecture and Minamitorishima, a remote Tokyo island in the Ogasawara chain in the Pacific. This is the second case of the central government seeking approval for the survey without request from local communities.
Senior ministry officials visited Hitachiomiya and handed a written request to Mayor Sadayuki Suzuki. Industry minister Ryosei Akazawa later told reporters at his ministry in Tokyo that he is grateful to Suzuki for taking the state’s request seriously. Hitachiomiya is located in the northwestern part of Ibaraki and borders Tochigi Prefecture.
The city was included in the scientific features map released by the central government in 2017, which listed sites where the possibility of favorable features to host a final disposal facility, such as no volcanoes or active faults nearby, being found is relatively high. Although Hitachiomiya is landlocked, parts of it are located some 20 kilometers to the coast, making it favorable from a transportation perspective as well. The literature survey, the first stage of the three-tier selection process, is aimed at examining possible effects of volcanoes and faults based on geological maps and scientific papers over a period of about two years.
The consent of the prefectural governor and the heads of relevant municipalities is required to proceed to the second and third stages — preliminary and detailed investigations. The overall selection process is said to take a total of some 20 years. Kazuhiko Oigawa said he would “closely watch” how the city of Hitachiomiya will respond.
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