“Nuclear waste” final disposal site selection Shoutsu-cho, Hokkaido considers application for literature research August 13 12:47

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Regarding the selection of the final disposal site for so-called "nuclear waste" from nuclear power plants, it became clear that Shoutsu-cho in Hokkaido is considering applying for the "literature survey," which is the first step in the selection. If you apply, you will be the first municipality to publish a map showing the regions in which the country may be surveyed.

The “high-level radioactive waste,” or so-called “nuclear waste,” emitted from the spent nuclear fuel of the nuclear power plant emits extremely strong radiation, and therefore the government intends to bury it underground and dispose of it.

Regarding the selection of this final disposal site, the government released a map showing the regions that could be surveyed three years ago and held briefing sessions in various places to seek understanding from local governments.

Regarding this selection, Suttsu town in Hokkaido is indicated that most areas in the town are “preferred” areas as candidate sites for disposal sites on the map, and if a survey is conducted, it can be expected that grants from the country will be expected, Kataoka It was revealed that Mayor Haruo is considering applying for the first stage, "Literature Survey".

In the future, if an application is applied and a survey is decided, a literature survey will be conducted for about two years, and if the residents' understanding is obtained, then a detailed survey analysis for selection such as excavation by on-site drilling will be promoted. Will be.

The town will hold a discussion meeting with the townspeople on the 26th of this month and decide whether to apply in the middle of next month. If you apply, you will be the first municipality to publish a map showing the regions in which the country may be surveyed.

Mayor Kataoka says, “We are looking at the finances of the city beyond 10 years. We will make a final decision while listening to the opinions of the residents, without turning away from the disposal of nuclear waste.”

What is "nuclear waste"?

Nuclear power plants around the country generate spent nuclear fuel when they are operated. In Japan, we plan to carry out “reprocessing” to chemically process this spent nuclear fuel and take out plutonium etc. for use as fuel again.

However, at this time, waste liquid and fuel components contaminated in high concentrations that cannot be reused remain, and it is called "nuclear trash".

Since the country continues to emit extremely strong radiation, the country intends to carry out "geological disposal" to bury it deeper than 300 meters underground, as it needs to be isolated from the environment in which people live for tens of thousands of years.

However, the situation where we cannot decide where to construct the disposal site continues.

Selection process

According to the NUMO=Nuclear Power Environment Improvement Organization, a nationally-licensed corporation that carries out underground disposal of high-level radioactive waste, it is said that the investigation will be conducted in three stages before selecting the disposal site. Is the stage.

The purpose of the literature survey is to understand the condition of the stratum from research papers and geological data in order to find suitable sites to be buried underground for disposal.

Specifically, he is investigating how volcanoes and active faults are distributed in the relevant area, and whether there are economically valuable mineral resources.

If the evaluation of the literature survey is completed and local understanding is gained, the geological survey will be carried out directly, such as by carrying out the boring to dig the stratum in the second stage.

As a third step, the excavated strata are precisely analyzed, and based on past volcanic and earthquake activities, the final stability of the strata and the presence or absence of mineral resources that may be subject to excavation in the future are finally determined. The results will be summarized.

Based on the final results of this survey, it will be decided after hearing the opinions of the residents and the opinions of the local government whether to actually construct the disposal site.

NUMO "Thank you for your interest"

According to the NUMO=Nuclear Power Generation Environment Organization, a licensed corporation of the country that implements disposal, if a country's Shoutsu-cho applied for a literature survey, a national map showing the areas that could be the subject of the survey in 2017 "Scientific This is the first time since the country has published the “Characteristic Map”.

According to NUMO, there is an example in which Toyo-cho, Kochi Prefecture, applied for a literature survey from a local government before 2014, when the method of selecting the final disposal site changed to the current method. The town immediately withdrew the application because of opposition from the residents.

NUMO said, "There is no information that Jutsu-cho is considering applying for a literature survey at the moment. Thank you for your interest in the final disposal site. I would like to continue."