Japan Govt Asks Genkai Town to Accept N-Waste Site Survey

   Genkai, Saga Pref., May 1 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency asked the town of Genkai in Saga Prefecture on Wednesday to accept a "literature survey" for a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear plants.
   An official of the government agency made the request to Genkai Mayor Shintaro Wakiyama in the southwestern Japan town after the town assembly adopted on Friday a petition seeking the document research, the first of the three stages in the process of choosing a final dump site.
   It was the second time for the central government to ask a municipality to allow it to look into records and papers. The first such request was made in 2020 to the village of Kamoenai in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido.
   Wakiyama, who has shown a cautious stance toward the initial-stage research, is expected to make a final decision on whether to accept it by the end of May.
   For the literature survey, a local government needs to apply or accept a government request. So far, Kamoenai has accepted the request while the town of Suttsu, also in Hokkaido, has made an application.

(2024/05/01-17:17)

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