In September 1995, the Advisory Panel for High Level Waste Disposal was set up within the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to discuss fundammental ideas and approaches on the issue of the disposal of HLW in Japan. In July 1997 a draft of its final report was published and a public participation process started.
(490.4862) Baku Nishio - However the Advisory Panel was set up in September 1995, the first meeting of it was not held until May 1996 due to the long time it took the AEC to select members of the panel. In July 1997, almost a year after the Advisory Panel was initially set up, it released the draft of its final report, and invited public opinion on the issue discussed during the period from August 1997 to January 1998. At the same time it held a series of symposia in five cities - Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, and Fukuoku - inviting opinion leaders and representatives of local citizens' groups. At the last symposium, held in Tokyo in February this year, Jinzaburo Takagi, representative of CNIC was also invited to give his opinion.
The Advisory Panel will evaluate the opinions it has received and rewrite its draft report, a
procedure which is revolutionary in the history of Japanese nuclear administration. However, the
original draft report adopted the basic contents of the Long Term Nuclear Utilization Program that
the AEC had proposed in June 1994, and it seems that the real purpose of gathering opinions from
the public is to facilitate public acceptance of the basic approaches of the Long Term Program.
Whether or not the panel will turn out to be meaningful depends on how they deal with public
opinion from now on.
According to the disposal schedule proposed in the Long Term Plan, a body responsible for
implementing the waste disposal is to be set up by the year 2000. The panel's report suggests that
private enterprise could function in this role. The report further suggests that the actual time to
begin disposal should be set at anywhere between the 2030s to the mid-2040s at the latest, as
proposed in the Long Term Plan. However, this is merely a wish and unlikely to happen.
HLW in Japan
The HLW for disposal is the vitrified liquid waste that is produced from spent fuel
reprocessing. Reprocessing is being done at the plant owned by Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel
Development Corporation (PNC) in Tokai-Mura, Ibaraki Prefecture. In Rokkasho-mura of Aomori
Prefecture, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL) is constructing a reprocessing plant for commercial use,
Operation is supposed to start in January 2003, but will likely be postponed. At the Tokai plant,
513 cubic meters of liquid waste have been stored as of March 1997. There are also 62 containers of
vitrified wastes, each containing 120 liters of waste liquid.
Most of the spent fuel from Japanese nuclear reactors has been sent to reprocessing plants in UK
and France. As much as 6,700 ton Heavy Metal (HM) of spent fuel had been shipped to these two
plants up until March 1997, among which 3,400 tonHM has already been reprocessed. The remaining
amount on contract is 400 tonHM. Vitrified High Level Waste (VHLW) from these two plants are
shipped to the Interim Storage Facility owned by JNFL in Rokkasho-mura. As of March 1998, there
have been three shipments of HLW brought in 128 170-liter canisters. In the future, well over 3,000
containers are expected to be shipped, and these numbers may even increase.
The plan is to store these HLW canisters in the Interim Storage Facility for 30 to 50 years, and
then to send them to a final disposal site in the deep geological layer between several hundred
meters to 1,000 meters underpound. The AEC is not considering any other options. This was one of
the issues strongly criticized by concerned citizens who submitted their opinions to the Panel. As
the final disposal site will likely be vigorously opposed by the local residents, substantial
extension of the interim storage period mentioned in AEC's current long term program is
anticipated. Rather than to let AEC extend the period without limit, the concerned citizens have
asked AEC to clarify their intention and set a definite long-term plan and system for VHLW storage
plan to replace the interim storage plan.
Underground Research Facility
There are two proposed sites for the underground research facility where basic research on HLW
disposal in the deep geological layer will take place. One of the sites is in Horonobe, Hokkaido
and the other one is in Mizunami, Gifu Prefecture. The geological layer in the former site is
sedimentary rocks and in the latter crystallized rocks. Mizunami is located adjacent to Tono
uranium mine where various kinds of research have been conducted. Besides these two sites, at the
former iron mine in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, some research had been conducted using existing
mine shafts. In Tokai-mura of Ibaraki Prefecture, construction of the Quantitative Assessment
Radionuclide Migration Experimental Facility (QUALITY) started in January 1998
These two planned Underground research facilities are going to be major projects with long mine
shafts of 1,000 meters deep. While these are plans for research-dedicated facilities, the local
residents have expressed extreme anxiety over the possibility of a disposal facility being
constructed nearby.
The Horonobe plan was unveiled in April 1984. In addition to the Underground Facility, an
Interim Storage Facility for vitrified waste and QUALITY were also proposed, triggering intense
opposition. Although the Horonobe Town Council has voted for the proposal, the surrounding towns
have voted against it. The Hokkaido Council also voted against the plan in July 1990.
The Science and Technology Agency (STA) gave up the idea of building other facilities besides the
Underground Research Facil-ity in Horonobe. In February 1998, it submitted a revised proposal to
the Hokkaido government for construction of only the Underground Research Facility. Local
opposition has remained firm even against the underground facility, but there is still a
possibility that some political pressure may be put on the town council to accept the plan. Since
AEC made the proposal the second time without any discussion within the waste panel, CNIC issued a
statement protesting the move.
Unlike Horonobe, the Mizunami plan was revealed relatively recently in August 1995. The Gifu
Prefectural Government, Mizunami city, Toki city (neighboring city) and PNC tried to sign a
construction agreement just one day after the announcement of the plan, but due to the quick
emergence of the opposition movement, the agreement was not reached until December. Opposition is
still strong and construction of roads to the planned site has been blocked.
In September 1997, PNC attempted to conduct investigations on the groundwater flow in a large area
around the Tono mine, but the local committee and Toki City Council asked PNC to stop.
Investigations have been postponed in some areas. In Horonobe and in Mizunami as well, PSC (or
their successors) has the responsibility for constructing the underground research facilities.
Local residents' distrust toward PNC is quite strong, since PNC has not done anything effective in
improving its image.
Source: Nuke Info Tokyo, March/April 1998
Contact: Baku Nishio, Citizens' Nuclear Information Centre, 3F Kotobuki Bldg., 1-58-15
Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164, Japan.
Tel: +81-3-5330 9520; Fax: +81-3-5330 9530
E-mail: cnic-jp@po.iijnet.or.jp
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