Japan Govt Asks Eastern City to Accept N-Waste Site Survey

Hitachiomiya, Ibaraki Pref., Aug. 31 (Jiji Press)--The industry ministry Monday asked the city of Hitachiomiya in Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, to accept a literature 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 a literature survey, after the town of Suttsu and the village of Kamoenai, both in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, the town of Genkai in the southwestern prefecture of Saga 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.

"I view the request very positively," he said, adding that he wants to make a final decision after hearing from the city assembly.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]