【online symposium】The U.S. and Japan confronting Nuclear Waste Interim Storage

The completion of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, currently under construction in Aomori Prefecture, was postponed for the 27th time this past August. The spent nuclear fuel continues to accumulate at nuclear power plants around the country, and if this situation continues, it will hinder the operation of nuclear power plants. In order to avoid this, the government and nuclear power operators jumped onto the nuclear waste interim storage scheme. The purpose is to continue nuclear power generation and to cover up the failure of the nuclear fuel cycle policy.
Even in the United States, hosting the world largest nuclear power plants, a final disposal site for “High level Radioactive Waste” (in the United States, spent nuclear fuel is classified as high-level waste) has not been found, and an interim storage plan is underway. In the candidate states, there is literally “state-wide” resistance through various methods, including an enactment of the state law banning the entry of high-level waste, legal actions and so on.
At the symposium, we will hear reports from our American guests on the current US situation regarding “nuclear waste” and local opposition movements, and discuss the interim storage issues with experts from Japan as well as local residents from Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture, where the interim storage facility was constructed, and Kaminoseki Town, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where a construction plan has emerged.