Hokkaido Village Accepts Nuclear Waste Survey
Another municipality in Japan has decided to take part in the first stage of a government process to select a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste.
The mayor of Kamoenai Village in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido announced the decision to accept the so-called literature survey on Friday.
The village's assembly adopted a petition the previous day urging the mayor to accept the survey. Industry ministry officials visited the village on Friday to ask it to do so.
Kamoenai is the second municipality to accept the survey since the government released a map of areas deemed scientifically fit to host a disposal site in 2017.
Suttsu Town, also in Hokkaido, applied earlier on Friday.
The government plans to conduct the selection process in three stages to choose a site for an underground depository for highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants.
Municipalities that undergo the initial survey are eligible for state subsidies of up to 2 billion yen, or about 19 million dollars.
